


Rebuilding from the Bitten

by lightningfury



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Derek Hale, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, And By That I Mean, Being an omega has consequences, But they still leave Derek alone, Deputies ship Sterek, Derek Hale Feels, Derek Hale Needs a Hug, Derek prefire was the town's favorite son, Everyone felt the loss of the Hales, F/M, M/M, Pack Bonding, Pack Cuddles, Pack Dad Derek Hale, Pack Dynamics, Satomi Ito is an alpha mentor, Scott McCall (Teen Wolf) is a Failwolf, Sheriff Stilinski's Name is John, Sheriff stilinski has a past, Spark Stiles Stilinski, Starts immediately after Jackson is bitten a second time, Stiles Stilinski Gets Bitten, Stiles is the town's favorite son now, The Hale pack was a prominent family, alpha pack arrival delayed, but so are all of them really, teenagers being teenagers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:08:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 29
Words: 41,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22415260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lightningfury/pseuds/lightningfury
Summary: Stiles was hurt much more from Gerard's beating and wrecking his jeep than he was letting on. But it's okay because he knows a bite will make it all better. Things are far more broken than he knows though and a bite can't fix everything.
Relationships: Chris Argent/Peter Hale, Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Lydia Martin/Jackson Whittemore, Vernon Boyd/Cora Hale
Comments: 266
Kudos: 1262





	1. I want the bite

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Español available: [Rebuilding from the Bitten [Traduccion]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29050767) by [yuki_yuki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuki_yuki/pseuds/yuki_yuki)



> (Author’s note: playing with the order of events here. Here Erica and Boyd were captured before they could inform Derek of their intention to leave the pack. After they were freed by Chris who took each of them directly home to their families. Then the night after Jackson was healed all three betas come to Derek and sever their bond to him. He repeats his warnings about the dangers of being an omega but they walk out on him anyway.)

Stiles laid on the bed curled around his aching belly. He told his father earlier that the damage was mostly to his face and that his pads protected him from the worst of it. He lied again. It was okay though because he had a plan.  
His social media told him that everyone else was fine. Scott, Isaac, and Allison were in a weird place romantically speaking he guessed but Lydia and Jackson were stronger than ever. Erica and Boyd got home okay. Sourwolf of course didn’t appear to have a Facebook, at least not one that Stiles had found yet and he had been looking. But that was okay because after the pool incident Derek had actually broke down and given Stiles his phone number already programmed into the phone he’d gotten to replace the one he’d lost in the pool.

He’d muttered something about calling him if Scott didn’t pick up. Well Scott never picked up and Stiles was tired of being the untrained unpowered human that got beat up by senior citizens. He’d been thinking about it for almost half a year now. Made his decision over two months ago before all the Kamina bullshit when he saw Derek was turning teenagers. He’d been worried initially that Derek might think he was too young.  
He hit Derek’s contact in his phone and winced as another spasm went through his body. It hurt and he should probably be in the hospital but he knew a bite would make it all better. Now he just had to convince Derek. Shouldn’t be too hard. The alpha owed him his life after all.

“What do you want Stiles?” Derek sounded…tired? Defeated? Sad?

Stiles wondered if this was a bad time and if he should call back later but the next pain was worse and he knew it was either talk to Derek now or call his dad and go to the hospital. There were a lot of things Stiles would do to avoid the hospital. “Hey…I don’t know how to ask this so I’m just gonna jump right in. I want the bite.”

“No you don’t.”

“Hell yes I do. I’ve been thinking about it since Peter offered to turn me. I would have asked you months ago but at first I didn’t think you would be okay with turning teenagers then I saw you had turned Isaac, Erica, and Boyd. I was gonna work on Scott about joining the pack then ask but then the whole Kamina thing happened and I figured the last thing you needed was another baby werewolf to take care of during that whole fiasco. But now it’s over and everyone seems fine. Things have settled down and I’m ready. I want the bite.”

Derek sighed. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I’m a pretty shitty alpha. In fact as of last night I don’t have a single beta. They all left me.”

“What?! Why!?” Stiles winced and held in his whimper as the pain grew worse. Clearly some convincing would be needed. What the fuck guys? Why would they leave Derek? Leave their alpha? Didn’t they know that was suicide?

“I wasn’t there for Jackson after he turned because I thought he’d rejected the bite. Isaac says he learned better control from Scott, who’s his anchor now apparently. Erica and Boyd just straight up told me I was a shitty alpha and that they’d rather be on their own with each other as an anchor than stay with me. Ditto with Jackson with Lydia as his anchor. I, of course, rejected Gerald as soon as the bond started to form.”

“But-“ Stiles took a deep breath as he tried to think through the pain, “anchors aren’t enough to keep them from going omega. Still need an alpha. And that’s even more reason to bite me. You need a beta to be stable too right? Come bite me. Please.” Stiles tried to breathe through the pain again but it was getting progressively worse. From the way his piss had been reddish earlier he was guessing Gerald’s boots had done significant damage to his kidneys. He took a deep breath. “I won’t…abandon you. You know me Derek. I would have cut off your arm to save you. I held you up in the pool when I could have let the Kamina have you.” Another deep breath. “And you saved my life too. So many times. I trust you Derek. Please. You’re still my alpha. Bite or no. But I really want the bite. I want the gift. It feels wrong to ask for a gift but I still want it. Please Derek…” Stiles dropped the phone as he wrapped both arms around his torso.

It landed inches from his face so he still heard Derek’s voice. “Okay Stiles. I’ll give you the bite. Can you come here?”

“No.” Stiles croaked out. “I’m…hurt. Please…come here.” Stiles closed his eyes as the pain grew worse.

“Stiles? Stiles!”

* * *

It took Derek all of ten minutes to run from the railway station to the Stilinski house, leap up to the second story window and step through. He blanched at what he saw. Stiles was curled into a ball and the sheets under him were bloody. What the hell had happened?

“Stiles? Stiles!” Derek very gently shook him but there was no response. His body was hot with a fever but his skin was pale from blood lost. Derek thought about calling 911 but knew Stiles would have done that already under normal circumstances. He wanted the bite. He knew the bite would heal this and so didn’t bother going to the hospital. Fuck.

Derek quickly undid Stiles’ belt and pulled his jeans open exposing a heavily bruised and blood mottled belly. He whined at the site. What happened to Stiles? Was this from wrecking his Jeep? Derek shook his head. There was no time for that. Stiles wanted the bite. He very definitely did and even though Derek felt horrible about biting him while he was unconscious he still knew what he had to do. He set his teeth on the soft skin just inside Stiles’ hip bone and bit down deeply into the soft flesh.

* * *


	2. Baths

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He may be healed but kidney failure and intestinal bleeding is a bitch to clean up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a lot of...licking it this. Like wolves just genuinely being wolves...if wolves had showers. Fair warning.

Mrs. Filibuster’s dog was barking down the street as it did every time anyone passed in front of their house. Stiles could hear it on quiet mornings when the window was open. He was surprised this time to hear Mrs. Filibuster scolding the pooch as well. That was new. He took a deep breath as he opened his eyes and was greeted by the disgusting smell of dried blood and bile.

“Ugh what’s that smell?” It was then he noticed he was laying on the floor of his room on a bed made with blankets from the linen closet and that he had an alpha werewolf laying behind him.

“You and your blood and so help me if the next time you’re injured you waste time on the phone arguing with me I’m gonna rip your throat out, with my teeth.”

Stiles turned around and saw that his bed had been stripped but there was still a very large noticeable blood stain covering the end of it. He cringed. He’d been bleeding? He hadn’t even noticed. From where?

He looked at Derek who flashed his red alpha eyes at him. He could feel his own eyes reacting and wasn’t that weird. “It worked then?”

“Yeah. Took immediately. I’ve never seen it work that fast.”

“Awesome.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were injured?”

Stiles sighed. “Because I didn’t want that to be the reason you turned me. I didn’t want it to just be because I was hurt.”

“You had lost a lot of blood by the time I got here and you fell unconscious while you were on the phone with me AND your father hasn’t been home yet. You could have died! What if I had said no? Hell I did say no. What if I had hung up?” Derek was definitely angry. It was a hot smell like cayenne peppers but it was covering worry which smelt weirdly like pond scum.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know it’d gotten that bad. I mean I knew it was bad but if you said no or hung up I was gonna call my dad to come get me and take me to the hospital.”

Derek growled. “You could have died. How did you get that injured anyway? Those wounds didn’t look right for wrecking your Jeep.”

Stiles winced. “Gerald. He captured me at the game. Took me to the basement where he was holding Erica and Boyd. He beat me up. Gods I really wished I’d asked for the bite then. I mean getting beat up by a senior citizen? After he left me there on the floor Chris came down. He helped me back to my Jeep and then went back to free Erica and Boyd. I think he was pretty horrified by everything his father was doing. He followed me home and then took Erica and Boyd to their houses.”

Stiles looked up at Derek to see the alpha frowning fiercely. He seemed to be struggling with something. If what Stiles had read was true then since he was upset Derek should be wanting to comfort him but he wasn’t. Why? Was their bond not strong enough? Should Stiles ask? “From my reading…”

Derek looked down at him with a frown. He raised an eyebrow in question.

“Umm I’m upset. You’re upset. Shouldn’t we be like…hugging? I could really use a hug. Or do I need to…” Stiles wiggled up Derek’s body from where they’d been laying on their sides. He gently nuzzled the underside of Derek’s chin with his nose for a second and when the alpha didn’t stop him wiggled a bit closer and lightly nipped Derek’s chin.

Derek bit Stiles’ nose gently in return.

Stiles grinned. “Yay. Acceptance from my alpha. Can we cuddle now?”

Derek wrapped an arm around him hauling him up against his body and tucking Stiles’ head under his chin. Stiles sighed with his whole body as he sunk into his alpha’s warmth and strength. Damn this was nice. There was like a part of his brain that was suddenly hyper aware of Derek and just utterly joyful that his alpha was here and accepted him and was hugging him.

Stiles was right up against Derek and his collarbone was right there and Stiles had a very puppyish urge to lick and taste and lap gently at his alpha’s skin in just pure affectionate puppy kisses because this was his alpha and all the safety was right here in his arms. The human part of Stiles felt it’d be a little odd. The wolf part however saw absolutely nothing wrong. Honestly Stiles was inclined to go with the wolf. Embrace these little harmless wolf wants. So he nuzzled Derek’s collarbone with his nose before letting his tongue out to gently lap at his skin. He was salty and a little dirty but not bad. As he licked more and more the skin was cleaned and he began to taste the skin itself which rather tasted like muted blood in a smooth safe way.

He could smell Derek’s surprise, which smelt vaguely like firecrackers, and then his tenderness, which smelt like warm butterscotch. Stiles felt like he was floating as he cleaned his alpha’s collarbone and neck with his tongue. It was very zen. The repeated motions of his tongues against Derek’s skin. It was so nice. Eventually he ran out of skin though. Either Derek’s shirt was in the way or he was licking stubble and he wasn’t at the right angle to lick the hairs in the right direction.

He pulled back with a pout.

Derek chuckled. “You done Puppy?”

Stiles blushed. “Was that okay? It felt right and everything I’ve read about werewolves says they have a combo of human and wolf social cues but I’m not sure where the line is.”

“It was fine. I used to spend hours licking my pack. Especially when I was a pup.”

“Is it only a puppy thing?”

“No. Licking releases endorphins. We like the taste of pack and it’s affection given and received. It creates a feedback loop through the pack bond; strengthening it.”

“Are you gonna lick me too?”

“Do you want me to?”

“Yes. Of course. I want to fully embrace the werewolf life.”

Derek’s eyebrows rose up and he smelt surprised again.

“Why are you surprised? I asked for this. I knew what I was getting into.”

“You…None of the others…I didn’t know how to…So much is instinct…or I always assumed it was instinct.”

“Because you were born this way into a family that was born this way. I bet there’s a bunch of things you consider perfectly normal, that are perfectly normal for werewolves, which never occur to the bitten wolves who were raised human. Like what do you want to do right now?”

“Right now?”

“Yup. Whatever it is. I’m here for it Alpha. Just tell me and I’ll try to pay attention to my instincts too and we’ll figure this out.”

“Right now I want to strip off all your clothes, and mine, take you into the bathroom and turn on the shower and then sit down and just thoroughly wash all the blood and pain off of you.”

Stiles blushed but… “Okay. Let’s do this.” Stiles let Derek stand and pull him to his feet. He was amazed by the complete lack of pain he was feeling. He wrinkled his nose at this mattress though. It was disgusting. Where was he going to sleep tonight? He couldn’t clean that.

“I’ll buy you a new mattress later. Come on.” Derek pulled him down the hall to the bathroom. He stripped off his shirt, shoes and pants very quickly.

Stiles blushed brightly as he tried to remember what he’d read. Born wolves have little sense of modesty. He didn’t remember anything about how they reacted to inappropriate boners to said immodesty. “So if I have a question...that I’ve not found in my research...can I just ask?”

“Sure.”

“I know you probably don’t have a sense of modesty but umm…I find you really attractive and I’m not going to be able to help having a boner around you. Is that alright?” He might have gotten a bit squeaky there at the end but he got through it quickly enough.

“It’s an automatic response your body has to stimulus.”

“So…”

“No. I don’t care. Is the temperature okay?”

“Yeah.” Stiles finally started to peel the bloody clothes off his body. Derek had removed his flannel shirt and his socks and shoes but clearly hadn’t felt okay with removing his pants or shirt. As Stiles pulled the clothes off he was able to finally see most of the blood had leaked out of his anus apparently. Intestinal bleeding maybe? Seemed likely. Fuck being stomped seriously sucked. Thank the gods for werewolf healing.

Derek was in the shower already. He was opening bottles, smelling them, wrinkling his nose and setting them aside. Finally he found one that seemed the least offensive.

Stiles climbed in after him noticing that for the first time in his life he didn’t feel tilted off balance. Derek had sat down in the tub and was soaping up his hands. Stiles tried to wait till he was done but instead the alpha pulled him down in his lap and started washing him instead.

“Uh should I?”

“Shh…Let me wash you.”

“Okay.” That wolfy part of him was super okay with this. Alpha. Alpha bathing us. Alpha taking care of us. Stiles found himself leaning back on Derek’s chest as the alpha’s big hands gently rubbed circles in the stained skin cleaning him carefully and thoroughly. The urge to lick had returned and Stiles found himself lapping at Derek’s shoulder, bicep, chest. Anywhere Derek moved him that he could reach with his mouth he licked in a kind of half dazed state of bliss. Could a beta wolf OD on alpha affection? At one point he found himself licking Derek’s hairy ankles as Derek thoroughly cleaned his bloody anus. He was definitely hard throughout that. He was kind of shocked to find that Derek was hard too but remembered what he said. ‘Automatic response to stimulus’. Stiles was licking him all over. He guessed that was a little difficult to ignore.

Derek was meticulous. He even cleaned Stiles’ cuticles and beneath his finger and toe nails. Finally he decided Stiles was clean and with a small smile handed the soap to Stiles.

“My turn?” Stiles asked perking up.

Derek nodded with an indulgent smile. “Hurry though. The water’s gonna run cold soon.” He reached out to turn it up a bit.

Stiles pouted. “Pack house needs a big water heater for extra long showers.”

“I’ll put it on the list.” Derek said as he tilted his head back and let Stiles’ long fingers wash his tired body.

Stiles didn’t get to be as thorough as he’d have liked as the water ran cold sooner than expected.

Derek stood, holding Stiles close, turned off the water and got out of the tub all without dropping his new beta.

Stiles for his part happily wrapped his arms and legs around the alpha and let himself be carried. Returning to his room however meant returning to the disgusting mattress and that smell.

“Get dressed Puppy. We’ll go out and get some stuff to dispose of your mattress and buy you a new one.”

“And eat?”

“Yeah you’re probably hungry after all that healing.” Derek grabbed him around the back of the neck and breathed out hot air across his scalp. Stiles dunked down to nuzzle under Derek’s chin again and to bite it gently. Derek returned the gesture with a soft nip to Stiles’ nose. A deep contentment settled inside him.


	3. Logic. It’s a beautiful thing.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Healing werewolves need food. Also, nice car, nice clothes, squatting in a railway station. What's up with that?

“So were you like, planning on renovating the railway station into a pack house or something or was that just temporary digs.” Stiles said around a mouth full of curly fries. He was starving as Derek had predicted. So far he’d downed three roast beef sandwiches and four orders of curly fries. Derek wasn’t quite matching him but he still put away a lot of food. Stiles figured healing from the kamina poison took a lot out of you as well.

Derek shrugged.

“You can’t keep living there Derek. Or in the old Hale house. No humans should live in those places until some serious renovations are done.”

Derek sighed.

“Is it money? Because you can stay with me. I’m gonna have to tell my dad about all this now. Hiding that Scott was turned is one thing. Hiding that I was turned…actually he works so much he might still not notice but he knows something’s wrong and I hate lying to him.”

Derek heaved another sigh. “It is and isn’t money. Laura held the Hale estate and she didn’t have a will. With the circumstances surrounding her death it’s been a nightmare getting the estate released to me. I have lawyers working on it but right now I just don’t have a lot of funds. That’s at least one good thing about having Peter back. That was his first question. Why am I living in squalor? That’s where he is actually. In New York taking charge of the Hale Estate. He’s a lawyer and Peter.” Derek waved a hand vaguely as if the name said it all and it kind of did. “I’m fairly sure the last email I got from the estate manager had tear marks on it.”

Stiles chuckled. “So is he your beta?”

Derek shook his head. “I tried but I can’t quite…trust him yet. I told him this was a test of good faith. He fixes this I’ll bond him. I can only hope it’ll be enough.”

“Until then?”

“I have my trust fund but I’d just paid my tuition for the spring semester when Laura died so I haven’t gotten any deposits after that and it took the college literally months to refund my tuition. I have money now but not enough to really live on without getting a job which I haven’t been able to do because I’ve been putting out fires all around town.” Derek rubbed his hands over his face in frustration. “On top of everything else I really didn’t need to deal with the financial crap.”

“What were you taking?”

“Huh?”

“In college. What was your major? Are you gonna go back now that things have calmed down?”

“Cryptozoology and History. I wanted to be the pack lorekeeper and while there may not be much of a pack left there’s still plenty of lore.” Derek sighed. “I don’t think so. The only place I can get a cryptozoology degree is in Maryland. I can get a zoology degree which helps.” He sighed again. “As alpha I have to stay here. If I do finish my degree it’ll have to be online.” He ran his hand through his hair in frustration. “I can’t think of this right now. There’s too much else to think about.”

“Like what?”

“What?”

“Pack mate here. Pack should share burdens. Money troubles Peter’s dealing with so stop worrying about that. He’s your uncle. You love him. Sure it was a shock he was back but I don’t think you’ll have any troubles bonding him now that things have calmed down. College we can work on together cause I’m sure as shit not leaving you here alone so I got a fuckton of research to do on colleges as well. We’ll figure it out.”

“Stiles you’re going to college. You’re way too smart not to.”

“Thank you but money is a problem for me too. See what scholarships I get and revisit it later. Doesn’t mean I can’t be researching colleges until then.”

“Pack money is pack money. I’ll pay for your college once the estate is sorted.”

“Whoa! I can’t let you do that.”

“Yes you can.”

“No I-“

“You’re my pack!” Derek was a little louder than he intended but only drew a sleepy glance from a truck driver at the bar. “What’s your research say about pack money?”

“Uh…I don’t know. That’s not something I questioned.”

“Pack is family. We’re brothers now…or I’m like your dad now because I’m the alpha.” He growled frustrated. Talking wasn’t his strong suit. It never was. Cuddling and taking care of his beta he could do that. He knew that part of it. But he acknowledged privately to himself that he was kind of a shit fighter and he truly sucked at explaining things. “Whatever. The point is whatever money anyone in the pack makes goes into the pack account and whatever money anyone in the pack needs comes out of the pack account. Almost every pack member, in my family at least, got a trust fund with regular deposits. When it comes to big things like college or a car or something you make a request of the alpha and get those funds released to your account. You’re going to college. Let me worry about how to pay for it.”

Stiles shifted uncomfortably.

“I take care of you Stiles. That’s my job. Let me do it.”

That part of werewolf dynamics Stiles had read about. He just didn’t expect it to be monetarily. He nodded. “Okay.”

Derek moved over to sit next to him instead of across and pulled him into a hug. He nuzzled the top of Stiles’ burred head enjoying the way the stubble on his jaw and the stubble of Stiles’ head rasped together. His discomfort melted away under Derek’s nuzzles. It was so much easier to touch Stiles that it had been his other betas.

Erica had been enjoying her new sexy confidence and even though it was wrong to encourage her it did make it easier to pack bond with her until she started wanting more. He had thought Isaac would jump at hugs and cuddles but he had shied away instead. Boyd had been a touch me not from the very first. Even shrugging off a simple shoulder pat. It had frustrated Derek and as the bonds refused to solidify he’d had to reach for his old anger based anchor over and over. That had eroded things even quicker. He sighed out hot air over Stiles’ neck. He should have offered Stiles the bite first. Maybe he wouldn’t have lost the others with Stiles stabilizing him. At the time he’d thought it impossible. If Scott didn’t come then Stiles wouldn’t either.

He rubbed his nose up and down Stiles’ neck as the boy tilted his head to allow him to do just that. He smelt like caramel and pecans. Derek wanted to lick him. “Let’s go before I start licking you in public and they call your dad.”

Stiles chuckled and rubbed their cheeks together as Derek pulled out his wallet to pay the check with a generous tip. They climbed out of the booth and held hands on their way out to Derek’s car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something the TV show hand waves. Hales were millionaires apparently. Rich enough to leave a hundred million dollars in a vault somewhere instead of a bank. Yet Derek's living in condemned buildings. It doesn't make sense. So I figure Laura got slammed with everything years ago and did her best but she was only like eighteen so it was still a mess 6 years later when it all gets dumped on Derek. Then there's the murder investigation surrounding her death of which Derek was a suspect. I assume all that probably resulted in Derek not having access to a lot of funds. Then Peter comes back and as a fully fledged adult takes matters into his own hands and gets it all sorted out.
> 
> Also yes. You can get a degree in cryptozoology from the University of Maryland. According to their website at least.


	4. I’m Used to Living Rough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Talking about living situations and why it's not okay to live in condemned buildings.

Back at Stiles house he was hella excited by his new strength as he carried the new mattress box upstairs like it was empty. Fortunately the blood hadn’t seeped through to his box springs.

Stiles could smell greasy cheeseburgers, stale coffee, the fresh scent of his Dad’s soap in the shower and another smell that Derek told him was exhaustion with a frown. The Sheriff had been home while they were out. He’d had some contraband burgers, a shower, some sleep, and coffee before leaving again. Stiles had growled about the burgers but at Derek’s question said that his dad probably thought Stiles was at Scott’s. Derek didn’t comment on the smell of Stiles’ sadness when he explained that if he didn’t take food to the Sheriff’s station he might go a week or two without seeing his dad due to their alternate schedules. Derek did pull him in for another tight hug and nuzzle though.

As they unpacked the mattress letting it unroll and fluff up Stiles insisted on getting on a realtor website and looking at rentals for Derek to live in.

“It’s okay Stiles. I’m used to living rough.”

Stiles gave him an unimpressed look. “Alpha. You are not living in an abandoned railway station or a condemned house. You wouldn’t let me live somewhere like that would you?”

“No.”

“Then I’m not letting you either. My pack function is to support you right? Well this is me supporting you. You need a den. Maybe not a big one right now. I mean it’s just you and me and maybe Peter. But you need somewhere you can be cozy and safe. That we can be cozy and safe together. Somewhere we can kick back on a couch and just lick and nuzzle and cuddle for hours and make lots of good hearty food. You want that right?”

Derek’s face looked like broken hearts and pain and the smell was like hot black tar. Stiles fell out of his chair throwing himself into Derek’s lap and wrapping his long limbs around the Alpha. “Alpha. Alpha. Alpha.” Stiles whined as he licked up Derek’s neck and behind his ears. He licked and squeezed until he felt Derek begin to relax by increments under his fingertips.

“Alpha?”

“Yes. Yes Puppy I want that. I want that so much. I just don’t know if I deserve it.”

“You do.”

“But-“

“No.” Stiles looked back and wasn’t quite surprised to find Derek’s flashing red eyes at him in a knee jerk response to his defiance but dammit it needed to be said. “You’ve suffered for years Derek. Okay? Years. You’d done your penance Alpha. It’s time to forgive yourself for the actions of some thrice-damned genocidal hunters.” He ran his hands through Derek’s thick black hair tilting his head up to look into Stiles’ eyes. “Okay? It’s time to move forward. You’re alpha now. It’s time to make your mother proud. What would your mother want you to do? You said she was a great alpha right?”

Derek nodded slowly. “Mom would…she always made me feel safe but I don’t know how to do that. I was young when she died. She was my mom and alpha but she was busy a lot. I was just a lower rung beta Stiles. Honestly I know nothing about how to be alpha and I don’t remember anything special my mom did besides this. The cuddling and scent marking. I know this part and it’s so easy with you. The others just brushed me off constantly and I didn’t know what to do to fix it. I’m serious Stiles. I know nothing.”

“I thought you were gonna be lorekeeper?”

“Yeah lorekeeper. That’s a non-combatant low ranking role in a pack big enough to have one. I know creatures and cults and history but protocol and alpha dynamics?” Derek looked away embarrassed. “I’m not much of a fighter either. Sure I’m big and strong and fast but I was never trained to fight. Not like Peter. Peter was an enforcer. If you hadn’t hit him with that fire bomb there’s no way I would have beat him. It’s also no surprise he killed Laura even as a weak omega but…I understood that. Afterwards. When I had time to think. I’m still processing it but I kind of get it. How he could have been in such a bad place he could have struck out at Laura not recognizing her.”

“What about Laura? What kind of Alpha was she?”

Derek sighed. “A bad one. She refused to bind anyone else or bite anyone else. She kept us on the run for years and she…” He shook his head. “Nevermind. I’m trying to not be like her.”

“Well. When Peter gets back he can train us to fight. Since he knows how.”

“If he hadn’t been so damn crazy…” Derek sighed. “He’d have made a better alpha than me.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” Stiles tucked his nose into Derek’s neck again. He smelt of sadness like dry ice. It clung to him. It took some time for Stiles to pick it out from Derek’s natural scent it was so deeply embedded. “Know any other alphas? Maybe we could talk to someone. Anyone your mom knew or was allied with?”

Derek started to shake his head and then paused. “Alpha Ito.”

“Who’s that?”

“She’s the alpha in Redding. Older lady. Very old. She’s like a hundred. Her and my mom were allies though. I remember having to clean the house really well whenever she came over. She always brought this smelly tea as a gift for my mom.”

“Okay. Let’s call her up and ask for help then. Is that something we can do? I mean she was an ally of your mom’s so she’s probably willing to be your ally too right?”

Derek nodded a bit reluctantly. “Yeah. I don’t know how to get in contact with her. Laura always met with strange alphas alone. Said she didn’t want me insulting anyone.” He kind of flinched.

Stiles was filling in some blanks with Laura. He translated “didn’t want Derek insulting anyone” into isolation. She was keeping Derek ignorant so he wouldn’t leave her. It was the tactic of an abuser. Stiles had seen enough abuse cases come through his dad’s office to break down and research the behavior. There was some boxes being ticked here with Laura. “Let me work my internet magic. What’s her full name?”

“Satomi Ito.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah I have trouble believing Laura was anything but a bad alpha. I mean she's just as traumatized as Derek and Peter so she probably couldn't help it but there's lots of question marks surrounding Derek's time with her that make me assume the worst.


	5. Alpha Ito

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's the protocol for calling up another alpha?

Stiles climbed out of Derek’s lap then thought better of it and dragged the alpha over to his computer chair where he could sit in Derek’s lap and still reach his computer. Derek sighed gently resting his head on Stiles’ back. After a moment he reached out and tugged on Stiles’ shirt until he leaned back with a blush to let Derek remove it.

Derek began to gently lap at Stiles’ back and Stiles for his part got more than a little dazed. His hands hovered over the keyboard for a good minute before he finally moved to minimize but not close the real estate window and pull up one of the people search engines the sheriff’s office used. Satomi Ito came up fairly quickly and within a few minutes he had a phone number.

The search was made significantly more difficult as Stiles had to fight through the blissed out hazy state his brain seemed to go to whenever Derek got super affectionate like this. Still Stiles wouldn’t stop Derek for the world right now. Stiles was 90% sure Derek was touch starved and that he needed this more than absolutely anything. Stiles for his part certainly wasn’t going to refuse the affection either.

“Got…a…number…”

Derek stopped licking and raised his head. Stiles turned around to see the alpha looked a little blissed out himself. “Hmmm….okay.” He cleared his throat and gave himself a small shake. “Okay. Let’s call her.”

Stile dialed the number and held the phone up to Derek’s ear where he took it with an eye roll but then tensed when the line picked up. He was glad Stiles was still in his lap as he hugged the boy tightly when a slightly accented voice said, “Hello?”

“Hello. Satomi Ito?”

“Yes. This is she.”

“Alpha Ito. Hello. My name is Derek Hale…err…Alpha Hale. You knew my mother, Talia, Alpha Talia Hale.” Derek winced at how he’d stumbled over his words.

“Greetings Alpha Hale. I don’t believe I’ve seen you since you were a boy. How are you?”

Derek breathed out and looked at Stiles a bit wild eyed. He wasn’t anywhere near okay but was it okay to tell another alpha that? What was the protocol here?

Stiles could smell Derek’s panic now. Sour like a warhead although he was somewhat amused to see the Derek just looked kind of angry. How often had he completely misinterpreted the werewolf’s expression? He took the phone from Derek quickly. “Hello Alpha Ito. My name is Stiles, Derek’s beta…Derek’s only beta…I…look…we…gods we’re young. Both of us. Really young and we don’t know what we’re doing. I’m smart enough to admit that. Derek said you were his mother’s ally years ago and well we’re were hoping you could help us out.”

“How young?”

“I’m 17 and Derek’s…19?” Stiles winced over his flub but his birthday was only a week ago. Sue him.

Derek nodded reluctantly.

“Oh my. And how long have you been a wolf young Stiles?”

“Uh let’s see Derek bit me...” Stiles looked at the alpha.

“Around nine last night. He was very badly injured though that wasn’t the reason I bit him. He asked for it. He turned extremely quickly. I’ve never seen it work that fast. He’s been great since then though. A lot better than my other betas.”

“I thought Stiles was your only beta?”

“He is. The rest…left me. I…I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know how to be an alpha. I was just…trying my best to teach them and trying to not be like my sister who was my alpha and I messed up. I messed up so bad. They left me. All of them.”

“Oh dear. Exactly how many omegas are running around Beacon Hills right now?”

“Five. No. Six.”

“You bit six people? Were you feral?”

“No. I wasn’t feral. I explained what would happen to each of them before biting them. They had every opportunity to refuse but they didn’t. I bit four…teenagers. I know the bite takes better with teens and I thought if they were near me in age we’d get along better.”

“Oh Derek Sweetie no one gets along with teenagers.” She chuckled. “Who is the fifth and sixth? Stiles?”

“No. Stiles was the fifth teenager I bit. The first omega or wait no the first…teenager who was bitten? Was another teenager, Stiles’s best friend, who my Uncle Peter bit when he was Alpha. He was feral at the time. He’d just killed my sister Laura who was my alpha at the time. Then I came and killed him so I’m alpha now…although Peter did find a way to come back to life with his sanity and technically he’s an omega until I can bind him but he’s not in Beacon Hills right now.”

There was silence on the other end of the line. Finally they heard the woman take a breath. “I see. This sounds like a story that would be better told in person over some tea.”

Derek wrinkled his nose thinking of the stinky tea. “That sounds nice. Can we meet you somewhere?”

“I’ll give you the address to my house here in Redding. Not the pack house you understand.”

“Of course.”

“Can you come tomorrow afternoon around three?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“My address is 123 Redding Ln. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Thank you.” Derek said with a relieved sigh.

“Thank you.” Stiles chimed in.

“You’re welcome boys. Thank you for knowing when to reach out for help. I’ll see you tomorrow. Good bye.”

“Good bye.”

Both let out long sighs once the call disconnected.


	6. I wish I had bit you first

“That went well.” Stiles said to Derek’s neck where he had pressed his face once the call disconnected.

“I guess.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m not sure an alpha is supposed to show weakness in front of another alpha.”

“Well…not to put too fine a point on it but we are weak.”

Derek snarled at him and Stiles felt his wolf cringe away but Derek’s arms tightened around him and Stiles tried to use his nose knowing now that Derek’s face was deceptive. The alpha smelled sour and hot like infection and bruises and Stiles realized he was hurt by Stiles’ words.

“No Alpha. No.” Stiles wiggled around to sit sideways on Derek’s lap and flung his arms around the alpha’s shoulders. “I just mean comparably. Your pack, your mom’s pack was strong right? Would she have had any trouble with the kamina?”

Derek shook his head. “No but there were a lot of us. Mom would have had Peter or Dad identify the kamina and investigate and bring him in. She’d offered him the bite, killed him if he refused. Found his master by the smell of his clothes. All things I was trying to do but…” Derek sighed and turned away.

“But all you had to work with was yourself and a bunch of baby weres who can barely smell their own asses and me.”

“You were at least useful.” Derek said bitterly. “I wish I had bit you first. I wanted to.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Scott. I didn’t think you’d join me without him and when I offered to bind him he refused.”

“When did you offer?” Stiles frowned Scott never told him that Derek offered to bind him. He would have told Scott to do it if he had. Literally no one had anything good to say about omegas and it was a miracle that after five months Scott hadn’t gone rogue yet.

“A couple of days after Peter died. I knew I needed to bind someone quick and Scott was right there. He refused though. Loudly. Threatened me. Told me to get out of Beacon Hills. That he was here first. Like my family didn’t found the town. I should have beat his ass into the ground then and there but I was still trying to be nice.” Derek sneered. “I told him it was only a matter of time before he went rogue and when he started to find himself slipping to come find me. I hope he doesn’t end up ripping his mom’s throat out before he wises up.”

“He didn’t tell me. About you offering to bind him. I would have told him to. It’s kind of a miracle he’s not gone rogue after five months as an omega right?”

“Given a good enough anchor an omega can go for a long time. There are historical records of omegas with extremely good anchors going for years before becoming feral but eventually the wolf needs an alpha. Normal wolves will gather together to form a pack and an alpha will emerge. Not necessarily the biggest or strongest wolf either. The alpha wolf is typically the father of a pack of pups so when adult wolves form a pack the alpha is usually the wolf with the most experience, the most caring that becomes alpha. Lone wolves will go insane just like isolated humans will.” Derek’s tone had taken on a bit of a lecture quality. It was certainly more words than he usually said. Maybe it was because he could see how interested Stiles was from such a close distance. Stiles had spent more than time sitting on a lap today than he had since his mom died. It should have been embarrassing but it was just nice instead. Cozy and warm and his wolf loved every second of it.

“Werewolves are different. Our spark defines what kind of wolf we are and like wolves we need packs but alpha sparks can’t just be created. Alpha sparks can create beta sparks and under extremely rare circumstances a beta spark can evolve to an alpha spark but it’s not happened in the last hundred years of recorded werewolf history. Beta and Alpha werewolves form a kind of checks and balances system. Both grow in strength and stability the larger the pack is. Betas strengthen and stabilize the alpha. Alphas protect and stabilize the betas. The smallest pack size should be one alpha, three betas.”

“Hence biting Erica, Isaac, and Boyd.”

Derek nodded. “I probably wouldn’t have bitten Boyd if I knew Jackson had survived.”

“Why didn’t you know Jackson had survived? I mean you said you felt Gerald’s bond forming. Didn’t you feel Jackson’s?”

Derek shook his head. “No. I didn’t. That’s why when he told me he’d been throwing up black gunk I assumed the bite didn’t take. I still should have followed up on him.”

“Hey. You didn’t know. You’ll know better next time.” Stiles cupped the back of Derek’s neck and nuzzled under his ear. Derek nudged against his head and they pushed back and forth for a few seconds rubbing their faces together.

Derek groaned. “This is so easy with you.”

“I live to please.”

Derek laughed. “No you don’t.”

“No I don’t.” Stiles laughed with him. “But you are right. A lot of this does feel like instinct. I don’t know why they others didn’t get it. Maybe now that I’m here they’ll come back. I mean they don’t have much choice. You said only under rare circumstances a beta spark could evolve into an alpha spark. What circumstances?”

“Well first thing you need an unaffiliated spark. Every supernatural creature has a spark. Werewolves have alpha\beta sparks. Wendigos have wendigo sparks. Trolls have troll sparks and so on. Sometimes, and it’s ridiculously rare, a human will be born with a spark.”

“Like a muggleborn?”

“Kind of. Although JKR said muggleborns are actually squib descendants so they already had sparks it’s just that they finally grew strong enough to manifest.”

Stiles was surprised. “You like Harry Potter?”

Derek smelled surprised then humored. “Are there people on this planet who don’t?”

Stiles smiled back at him and Derek continued.

“So an unaffiliated spark is a spark that isn’t predisposed towards any one nature. They aren’t werewolves or druids or witches or merfolk they just are. This makes them powerful because if they can figure out how to manipulate their sparks in theory they can be capable of anything.”

“Anything?”

“Anything they can imagine or wish for. Like Green Lantern without the ring to a certain extent. Like if they imagined a beta werewolf was an alpha they could change the werewolf’s spark. They’re only limited by their belief, imagination, and their ability to tap into their spark. Some history books will talk about so called True Alphas. Betas who by willpower alone rose to Alphas but most history books contradict each other on how exactly this is possible. Some will say the True Alpha fully embraced the wolf which is dumb because fully embracing the wolf turns you feral. It doesn’t elevate you. Some say that it’s a myth or a lie and anyone claiming to be a True Alpha murdered their way into the position like everyone else but in cases where it really does seem like a beta wolf just suddenly became an alpha digging deeper usually reveals the beta wolf had a human pack mate that seemed capable of strange and unusual things which is typically a sign of a human spark so you can usually point to a suddenly elevated beta werewolf then look around them and find a spark responsible.”

“Huh…What happens if a spark is bitten?”


	7. What's the downside?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles has played enough video games to know that the OP character gets nerfed at the patch

Derek frowned. “I don’t know. They’re so rare not a whole lot has been written about them. Why?”

“Something Deaton said. When I made the circle of mountain ash around the club. He said it was like gunpowder and I was the spark. When I asked for a better analogy he told me to visualize what I wanted to happen. I just had a handful of the stuff but I managed to spread it around the whole building. Then you asked me to open it so you could go save Scott-“

“I remember that. I thought Deaton had just given you a fuckton of the stuff. You really only had a handful?”

“Yeah and when you asked me to open the circle I just imagined the ash line breaking, waved my hands and it did. Without me touching it.”

“Huh.” Derek frowned. “Maybe that’s why you turned so fast. You wanted to be a wolf and your spark helped. You knew you needed a bite but now I wonder if you could have turned yourself into a werewolf.”

“That might be stretching it.”

“Anything is supposed to be possible with a spark. Have you tried anything since then?”

“No. I asked Deaton for more mountain ash. Seemed like it’d be a useful thing to have around but he said he was out. That what I used was all he had and he kind of implied the magic was in the ash. Not me.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. Mountain ash is just ash from a rowan tree. As a druid he should have plenty of it. He didn’t tell you any more about being a spark?”

“No. Certainly none of the stuff you just told me. Trust me if I’d known I could do things just by believing in them like I did with the mountain ash you can bet I wouldn’t have let Grandpa Argent beat my ass like he did.”

“You shouldn’t need mountain ash to test it. It should work on anything.”

“Good to know now but I mean I’m a werewolf now. I can’t have two sparks can I?”

“It happens. If a werewolf mated with a mermaid the child could be born with both sparks. You being a spark and believing my bite would save you, turn you, could have caused you to turn and heal so much faster than expected. It makes a good case that you might have both still. Try something.”

“Like what?”

“Something you can believe in.”

“Hmmm…” Stiles looked around his room. He glanced over at his bedside table where a book he’d been reading about the Hermantic order was still sitting. He concentrated but nothing happened. He held out his hand but nothing finally he closed his eyes and visualized the book zipping across the room into his hand and jumped when that very thing happened with a smack as it hit his palm. He fumbled but werewolf reflexes had him catching the book before it hit the ground. “Holy hell. It worked.”

Derek looked and smelled equally surprised. “You have two sparks.”

“I have two sparks.” Stiles stared at the book in his hand. It was filled with esoteric rituals and all the ways they could backfire. “There’s a downside isn’t there?”

“A downside?”

“Yeah like the werewolf mermaid. A land mammal who just spends all it’s time swimming. Having to follow both urges? That must be bad right. Like me having two sparks. A werewolf spark with all the strength and speed and healing and my birth, unaffiliated spark or whatever. Doesn’t that seem kind of overpowered to you?”

“Uh…okay well werewolf mermaids wouldn’t be that different from sea wolves so no downside there. And with a spark like yours you were already overpowered. You learn to use this and you’re golden. The bite is a gift. You don’t have to think about being stronger, faster, or more durable because you just are so that frees up more of your spark for doing other things.”

“I’m aware of how awesome this can be but downsides. Come on. I don’t want to be blindsided later on.”

“Well you have a werewolf’s weaknesses now. Wolfsbane, mountain ash, mistletoe.”

“Unless I believe I don’t have those weaknesses which would make sense because I’ve never been weak to those things before so it’d be easy for me to believe I’m not now.” Stiles said shrugging. “I wonder if I could believe that you’re not weak to those things either.” He frowned down at Derek’s smooth unmarked arm that he’d once seen crawling with black veins reaching for his heart. He wished to never see his alpha suffer like that again. He frowned and wondered how that would work. Could he just believe Derek was immune to wolfsbane when he knew he wasn’t? How could this work? Stiles knew so many facts. How could he just believe something was something else when he had seen it be true with his own eyes?

“I can smell your mind burning.” Derek commented with a chuckle.

“Okay. Maybe this isn’t as easy as I thought it would be. I know so many facts. How can I just believe something is different?”

“Two years ago you knew for a fact werewolves didn’t exist.”

Stiles looked at him sharply but Derek just smiled at him and flashed his bright red eyes. “You make a fair point.” He looked down at the book in his hand. It was full of esoteric rituals he’d hardly dared believe in. But now he could believe in them because for him whatever he believed would be true. Right? Further experimentation was needed but he wasn’t getting it tonight. “At least I’m not just 147 pounds of pale skin and fragile bones with sarcasm as my only defense anymore.” He frowned. “Why haven’t I had any of the wolfy outbursts? Like the claws or fangs and stuff?”

Derek shrugged. “You’ve not gotten mad? You’ve had wolfy outbursts they just been cuddly ones. Your eyes have glowed more than a few times. Especially when you’re licking me or vis versa. They’re this steady bright glow when you’re blissed out.”

Stiles blushed and smiled before nuzzling into Derek’s neck and licking his collarbone a few times. He raised his completely human looking hand up and studied it. “That didn’t seem to matter for the others. Anything and everything got them mad enough to wolf out. I do have claws and fangs right?”

Derek chuckled. “Maybe, Puppy, you’ve been so busy indulging yourself in other wolfy ways you’ve not felt the urge to wolf out.”

Stiles snorted. “Oh yes beware my puppy tongue of doom.” He rolled his eyes then blushed. “For the record I really liked getting licked too. Can a beta OD on alpha affection? Because, like, I get really blissed out when we do that. All floaty and happy and alpha, alpha, alpha. Like I now know what it is to contort in delight. If I had a tail it’d be wagging-“

“I get it. Yeah. It’s like I said licking, cleaning, cuddling, nuzzling all that with your alpha creates a feedback loop that strengthens the pack bond. It wouldn’t be as strong if we had more pack members because some of the affection would flow out to the rest of the pack.”

Stiles pouted. “So no more Alpha Bliss once Peter comes home?”

Derek stood and tossed Stiles back on the fluffy new mattress before removing his own shirt and climbing on top of his beta. “Oh I bet I can still get you blissed out.” He said with a naughty grin. He started licking the area he’d bitten. Stiles shuddered arching his hips up into Derek’s mouth before relaxing back on the bed and sighing. He’d expected it to be sexual but as Derek covered his belly in long swipes of his broad tongue he realized the alpha was just cleaning him again.

He relaxed into the cleaning letting his mind and body drift off in contentment and bliss. His last thought before he fell asleep was “Why would they leave this?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The whole I become this other thing so I lost what I was before just...yeah I don't follow that. Besides in this universe didn't the Dread Doctors prove they could combine multiple sparks?


	8. Why wait?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek recognizes how quickly Stiles is figuring out emotions and scents. Figures he has exactly zero chance to hide now.

Stiles woke up slowly to Derek licking his shoulder and gruffly muttering something about needing to get up to drive to Redding.

Stiles nuzzled into Derek’s elbow and started lapping at his skin again. The skin was already wet and Stiles couldn’t tell if he’d drooled on his alpha or if he’d been licking him in his sleep. Either seemed likely. One thing was for sure. Neither of them were getting out of bed if they kept licking each other. The alarm on one of their phones went off and the high pitched whine had Stiles flinching away and covering his overly sensitive ears.

Derek rolled on to his back taking Stiles’ slighter body with him and reached out to silence the alarm on his own phone.

“Ughrruh I’m awake.” Stiles said rolling over into Derek’s chest to nuzzle the hair there letting it tickle his nose. Stiles pillowed his head on one big pectoral and started to drift off again now that the annoying noise was gone. He was not prepared for Derek to slip an arm under his legs and stand up. He flailed in his alpha’s arms for a few seconds battering Derek about the head until he got his long arms wrapped around the alpha’s shoulders. Not that it stopped the alpha from continuing to carry him to the bathroom. He sat him down on the sink counter and turned on the shower.

Stiles rubbed his eyes and yawned. He guessed they were showering together again. At least they were saving water. He unbuttoned his jeans and went to slide off the counter but a naked Derek stopped him lifting him up and pulling his jeans and underwear off before carrying Stiles into the shower. He sat them down in the tub again and grabbed the new bath products he’d gotten Stiles that wouldn’t hurt their sensitive noses. Mostly products that claimed all-natural ingredients. They seemed to be mainly comprised of shea butter, aloe vera, and coconut oil. Most of it didn’t even lather all that much which was bizarre to Stiles but another thing that Derek had grown up with and never questioned.

He had mentioned when they were buying them that one of his aunts and uncles had ran a small business in town filled with homemade soaps and conditioners because they made so much for the pack’s use they sold the extra until it became a profitable business. There were a lot of businesses in Beacon Hills that closed when the Hale family was wiped out. They really had founded the town. Derek and Peter still owned most of it in fact. Some businesses like Hale Grocery and Hale Hardware that hadn’t been run solely by pack members were still open but places like the botanicals shop and the book store had closed.

Stiles wasn’t exactly resistant to getting blissed out while being cleaned by his alpha but he kept enough presence of mind to actually get to reciprocate this time washing the thick black hair and drawing designs in the soapy chest hair. He smoothed his long fingers hands over the coiled strength in his alpha’s thick biceps and climbed around him once Derek had determined he was clean to scrub the thick muscles of his alpha’s back. “You’re a work of art you know that?” Stiles said as he petted the tuft of hair at the base of Derek’s spine.

Derek snorted. “You’re gorgeous too ya know.”

Stiles jerked back startled. “What?! No I’m not-“

Derek turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow. “Did you hear a lie?”

Stiles blushed. “I wasn’t listening.”

“Listen now. You. Are. Gorgeous. One of the most beautiful humans I’ve ever come across. Amber eyed Bambi with your elegant limbs, your big hands and long fingers. That perfect pale pink mouth. You remind me of Hemmingway describing Scott Fitzgerald. Beautiful boy with your pale mole dotted skin like a reverse night sky I want to trace out constellations on.”

Stiles stared and listened but Derek’s heart was steady. He felt…good. He could literally feel it crawling up his spine and filling his body. Confidence in the way he looked. Pride. What the hell? He blushed. Derek, tall, dark, and handsome Derek, thought he, Stiles, was gorgeous. He tackled the alpha.

They slipped and slid in the bathtub. Slamming into the side of the tub and the metal faucet hitting Derek’s shoulder hard enough to bruise and immediately heal as Stiles crawled up the man and nibbled on his neck. He wanted to go for the alpha’s mouth but didn’t quite dare. He did lick his cheek and whine.

Derek turned and smiled at him reaching up to grab Stiles’ jaw and lower his mouth when the water went abruptly cold.

“Ah! Dammit! Really?!” Stiles flailed reaching out to turn the water off. He looked down at Derek to find the man laughing. Stiles pouted. Derek had no idea how long he’d been wanting that kiss. Any kiss to mean something. Sure he and Heather had kissed in 7 th grade just to have said they had but this would have been different. A kiss from Derek, from his alpha, who thought he was gorgeous…

Stiles didn’t know he’d started to whine until he felt his alpha’s big hands wrap around his jaw again. Derek had sat up with Stiles still astride his lap. He rubbed a gentle thumb over Stiles’ “perfect pale pink mouth” before leaning in and pressing his own soft lips against Stiles.

Stiles melted against him. The really great part was this wasn’t a wolf kiss. Sure his wolf was happy but this kiss was soft and perfect and human. It couldn’t be mistaken as wolf affection. As affection from Alpha to Beta. As their lips moved gently together it was just Derek and Stiles.

As Derek pulled back Stiles’ eyes fluttered open not entirely sure when he’d closed them. He licked his lips chasing the taste of Derek on his mouth. “Can we do that again?”

Derek relaxed from where he’d been holding himself just a tad too tense. “Yes. Whenever you want.”

Stiles smiled and leaned in to taste Derek again. He hummed as he took in the smells of happiness like caramel that were pouring out of the both of them. Stiles lifted his hands to wrap around Derek’s jawline the scruff tickling his palms. One thing was for sure their reactions to each other below the waist were very much on purpose this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like a good slow burn as much as the next fan but Stiles knows about chemosignals and what they mean. He's been doing some guesswork but he's not been wrong yet. Derek figures Stiles will pick up on his attraction to him sooner rather than later and decides to just not fucking bother trying to hide it any longer. There'll be another conversation between them later.


	9. Peter Calls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter calls and Stiles and Derek catch him up and get a quick protocol lesson

Derek’s phone ringing again was what finally broke them apart. A good thing too since they were still a little sudsy. The water was still cool but enough to get them rinsed off and patted dry.

Derek grabbed his phone as Stiles climbed up behind him on the bed to gently dry his hair. Stiles’ buzzed head didn’t need a lot of care which was the way he liked it typically. He’d been thinking of growing it out recently though. He liked Derek’s style and thought he might be able to pull it off.

“It was Peter.”

“Tell him he’s a cock blocker.” Stiles retorted before leaning forward over Derek’s shoulder as he read an email from Peter detailing what he had accomplished in untangling the Hale estate. Apparently it had not done well under Laura’s care. Peter was not impressed.

Derek called Peter back and put him on speaker.

“Everything alright Pup?”

“Yeah. I was in the shower.”

“Remind me to join you some time.”

Stiles rolled his eyes. “Pervywolf.”

“Stiles. What a delight to hear your voice. How are you?”

“Better than ever. Derek bit me yesterday or the day before yesterday? Anyway I’m here and I’m were-d. Were? Hair and where but here and weird. Fuck English.”

“You’re weird regardless.” Derek quipped.

Stiles covered his head with the towel and rubbed vigorously.

“Hey!” Derek growled and flipped Stiles back on the bed. Pinning him easily with one hand as he used a finger to pull off the towel from without dropping the phone.

“I’m hurt. You accept the bite from my nephew but not me?”

“You do remember how completely and utterly psycho you were right?”

“Former psycho. I’m much better now.”

“And we’re oh so thankful for that.” Derek told him dryly as Stiles continued to struggle. “One moment.” His eyes went red and his fangs popped out as he growled at Stiles who held still and flashed gold eyes back at him. Stiles looked and smelled a little sad and Derek tossed the phone by his head as he leaned down to nuzzle Stiles’ long neck. He lapped at his neck gently. “Alphas growl Puppy. I’m not mad at you. I just wanted you to be still.” He gave a final lick to Stiles’ jaw.

Stiles smelled a little more content and he wiggled up to nip Derek’s chin and relaxed fully once he got a little kiss on the nose in return. “Yes Alpha.”

“I’m getting a semi over here. What are you two doing?”

“Pack bonding.” Derek told him dryly.

“Damn. Why couldn’t I have gotten a cute little beta who said ‘Yes Alpha’ so sweetly instead of that jackass McCall?”

“Luck of the draw.” Derek told him with a satisfied smirk. He nuzzled the other side of Stiles’ neck with his nose before lathing the same path with his tongue. When he pulled back Stiles’ bright eyes glowed steadily behind half lidded lashes. “Biting Stiles was the best decision I’ve made since becoming alpha. I really wish I had bitten him first. It’s so easy with Stiles.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Two words. Jackass. McCall.”

“Ah I take it he didn’t take kindly to you wanting to bite Stiles.”

“Actually I just offered him pack. He’s still an omega after all. I figured Stiles wouldn’t come without Scott so I didn’t offer. Stiles called me. Said he’d been thinking about asking for the bite since you offered. Along with everything else that happened that night Gerald also kidnapped Stiles and beat the shit out of him. Instead of going to the hospital he waited till things calmed down then called me. He almost died. I’ve never seen anyone turn this quickly though. He was fine in a matter of hours. I think he may be an unaffiliated spark.”

“Is or was?”

“Is.”

Peter whistled lowly through the phone. “That is quite a boon to our pack.”

“It is.”

“I am in the pack then?”

Derek looked down at Stiles who had shaken off his Alpha Bliss as he called it. Stiles smirked up at him. “You’re my uncle. And I love you. I needed time but I understand. Yes. As soon you return I’ll bond you but you are pack.”

There was a sigh of relief over the line that Derek and Stiles didn’t think Peter meant them to hear.

“What do the rest of your puppies think of that?”

“Don’t know. They left me.”

“WHAT!?”

“Yup. Stiles and you are my only betas.” Derek reached out to drag his fingers down Stiles’ chest. “You know I was upset about that. About being such a shitty alpha they all left me. About disappointing Mom. But now that I have Stiles…” He shrugged.

Stiles smiled. “He shrugged by the way Peter.”

“I would have guessed something happened to his eyebrows.”

“Oh they’re saying some interesting things as well.”

Derek rolled his eyes and finally climbed off of Stiles. “Get dressed. I want to get you something to eat before we meet with Alpha Ito.”

“Whoa whoa whoa. Alpha Ito? Why are you meeting with her?”

“Did you not just hear me? Shitty. Alpha. I’m doing better with Stiles but I still created five omegas. Your omega and whatever Lydia is are still running around Beacon Hills and I doubt any of them are willing to come back under me. I’m hoping Alpha Ito will have some advice about what to do.”

“Please give her my regards.”

“Any protocol tips before we go? Laura never let me meet with other packs. I never really paid attention when Mom did.” Derek rubbed his forehead. “I know nothing about being an alpha. I’m a terrible fighter too. I hope you’ll teach me when you get home.”

“You’ll be fine Pup. Just need to get your feet under you. Remember you are her equal. Yes she has the larger stronger pack but you’re still equal. Look her in the eyes. Stand tall. Don’t tilt your neck. Stiles should stand slightly in front of you in order to tuck himself up against you to defend your throat. After the initial greetings Satomi will probably relax. She is an ally after all. Try not to be overly hostile and if you feel you can’t get the right words out let Stiles do the talking. He’s a spark. He can act as Emissary for you and one of their jobs is to speak to other packs freely by being outside of the power structure. This is an unusual case but it should be fine.”

“Yeah I kind of took over during the phone call too.” Stiles piped up from where he was putting on his belt. He looked through his closet. “What does one wear to meet an alpha werewolf?”

“Nothing in your closet.” Peter said dryly.

Derek dug through his bag finding a red Henley. “Here. Wear this. You look good in red.”

Stiles blushed. He still wasn’t quite over Derek calling him gorgeous. “What are you gonna wear?”

He pulled a dark blue v-neck out of the duffle bag he kept all his clothes in. Railway station aside Derek seemed to be mainly living out of the back of his car. He pulled the shirt on and Stiles admired the way it stretched tight across Derek’s muscular form. He pulled the red shirt over his own head equally sure it wouldn’t look like that on his skinny frame. He was surprised by how form fitting it was though. It stretched a bit across his own shoulders then molded itself to his lean torso. He gave it a sniff. It kind of smelt like Derek but not strongly enough to have been worn by him. “Do you purposefully buy t-shirts a size too small so they’ll stretch over your muscles like that?”

Peter let out a bark of laughter.

Derek rolled his eyes. “I gave you a shirt I haven’t worn yet but no Stiles. We wear the same size. If I went a size up it’d be too loose on me.”

Stiles sputtered. “We do not wear the same size. You’ve got like 50 lbs of muscle on me.”

Derek sighed and opened the closet door where a tall mirror hung. He pulled Stiles back against him. “Our shoulders are the same width and our torsos are practically the same length. I’m only like 2 inches taller than you and yeah I have like 50 lbs of muscle on you and it shows with my thicker chest and arms but we’re not that different Stiles. We wear the same size. Or we would if you actually wore clothes the right size. I assume most of the shirts in your drawers you’ve outgrown? You seem to wear a lot of your Dad’s clothes or do you purposefully buy t-shirts a size too big so you swim in them hiding how fit you really are.” He rubbed a hand over Stiles’ firm belly before coming up to cup the firm biceps. He was smaller than Derek sure but still fit and strong. Derek had been fooled at first but no skinny weakling could have held his heavy body up in that pool for two hours. He brought his hands up to Stiles’ shoulders and slowly dragged them down Stiles’ long torso before coming to rest on his hips. He licked Stiles’ neck before breathing out hot air over his head and neck.

Stiles looked at himself in the mirror and tried to see what Derek was seeing but he mostly just saw the same skinny boy he always did. Derek was right though. He looked at Derek and saw how big and strong he was but he was only slightly slimmer. “I still got beat up by a senior citizen. A senior citizen suffering from terminal cancer.”

“Gerald’s only in his early 60s and is a lifelong hunter. He’s used to fighting werewolves among other supernatural beings. Teen boys are nothing to him. Don’t beat yourself up about it. Gerald might as well have been a Navy SEAL compared to you.” Peter told him.

Stiles shuddered and tried not to whine remembering how helpless he felt. Derek wrapped those muscular arms around him and squeezed. “You’re safe Puppy. I got you.” There was something about being held by his alpha, squeezed by the superior strength in those arms that chased the bad thoughts away. Stiles tilted his head back to rest on Derek’s shoulder and licked at his jaw as he relaxed.

“When are you supposed to meet Alpha Ito?”

“Three. We need to get going.”

“Talk to you later Peter. When do you think you’ll be coming home?”

“Now that I’ve got a handle on things I SHOULD be able to do the rest remotely. I have a company that’s gonna pack up and move your apartment here. I’ll oversee that and then fly home. You need to find a place to live in the meantime.”

“That’s what I said.”

Derek rolled his eyes. “I should have enough funds to clear the security deposit some place now that I know more money will be coming in to cover rent. We’ll talk long term once you’re home.”

“Okay. Call me after the meeting with Alpha Ito. Let me know how it went.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As someone who grew up poor and small I think I got a handle on Stiles' wardrobe. There's like 40% in his dressers he's too big/small for now (hence the scene where Derek's looking for a shirt and nothing fits). 40% he's borrowing from his dad's closet hoping he'll grow into some of it (difference between actor and character age means that Stiles probably will grow a little more). The other 19% has probably come from thrift stores with the final percent being things he has brought for himself. Nice jacket, superhero shirt, etc. His dad probably takes him school shopping for at least a few things once a year like one pair of new sneakers a year. But look at the pictures of Tyler and Dylan standing next to each other (aka when they wear clothes that fit and stand naturally instead of acting their parts) there's not that much difference in size. Tyler's thicker with more muscle and two inches taller but that's it.


	10. Meeting Alpha Ito

They pulled up to the address they’d been given and slowly exited the car. Stiles fidgeted nervously and he could smell how nervous Derek was. A smell like overripe tomatoes. As they walked to the porch steps Stiles stepped just slightly in front as the front door opened and a small Japanese woman stepped out with a friendly smile.

“Alpha Hale.” She nodded. Despite the disparity in their sizes the other alpha exuded this sense of confidence and strength. She looked at them straight in the eye with her chin lifted. Her very presence demanded respect.

Stiles wondered if that’s how Derek’s mom had been and if that’s why he was still in awe of her.

Derek took a deep breath and held it puffing his chest out and giving a return nod. “Alpha Ito.” He met her eyes and tried hard not to look away.

Her eyes crinkled at the corners as her smiled widened. “Very good. Welcome to my home. Come on in and tell me what’s been happening with Talia’s sweet boy. I haven’t seen you since before the tragedy. You’ve grown so tall. The very image of your father.” She led them inside where an older gentleman was laying out a lovely china set. Steam was coming from the tea pot along with a very strong fragrance.

“This is my Emissary Devon.”

Derek started thinking he’d missed a step. “Uh. This is my Emissary Stiles…and my beta. It’s uh?”

Alpha Ito smiled at him. “Relax Derek. I’ll explain the different protocol rules another time. Right now we’re just going to set them aside and talk. Devon’s here because he’s my husband as well as my Emissary. He’s originally from Beacon Hills as well. He grew up with your grandparents.”

“I see the Hale genes are still going strong.”

“You mean they were all this gorgeous?” Stiles asked.

Derek blushed.

Devon and Satomi chuckled. “Yes. In this case I was referring to Derek’s eyes. His grandmother had those amazing kaleidoscope eyes. Oh the wolves your grandfather had to defeat to earn her hand.”

“Is that a thing? Battle Royale stuff?” Stiles asked.

“In the old days you’d see that more frequently. Fights over territory and the like. Still happens. Deucalion is still looking for a territory to settle in I believe. Not one you want to cross. He leads a so called Alpha Pack.” Satomi rolled her eyes.

“The Alpha Pack. I’ve heard of them.” Derek fiddled with his cup of tea. His eyes down on his hands. He missed Satomi’s sad look.

“Well don’t leave me in the dark.” Stiles said. He took a sip of tea and winced glancing around the table for some sugar. Devon pushed the bowl over to him with a smile. “Thank you.”

“It’s a pack made up solely of alphas. Five of them I think?” Derek glanced at Satomi.

“Yes. Five the last I heard. Deucalion was an alpha with ideas of a peaceful truce between the hunters and the wolves. It did not end well. In the aftermath his beta tried to seize power. Deucalion was forced to kill his beta. At that time he discovered that by killing his own betas he would grow in strength by absorbing their sparks.” Satomi sighed as she took a sip of tea. She shook her head. 

“Foolish boy. He was blinded in the fight with the hunters. Tortured then betrayed. I’m afraid he went mad. He was always such a gentle soul.” She sighed remembering a charismatic young wolf with an easy smile. 

“Afterwards he was near feral. It was all Talia and I could do to protect our own packs. He slaughtered the rest of his pack. Then he convinced others to do the same. Ennis and Kali follow his ways now. Then there are the twins Ethan and Aiden. Those poor boys. Word is they were…stress relief in their pack. Deucalion helped them slaughter their father, the alpha, and then the rest of their pack as well. Now there is an unusual circumstance. The twins are identical. Formed in the same womb and born werewolves. When they killed their father his alpha spark did not go to one but both as they share a spark.”

“Word is because of the spark they share they can actually merge their bodies to form one extremely large alpha werewolf.” Devon told them liberally adding sugar to his tea as if to show the boys it was alright.

Stiles mimicked him then pushed the sugar bowl to Derek. “Well that sounds terrifying. So there’s a pack of five super strong alpha werewolves just what? Running around America looking for a territory?”

Satomi nodded. “Yes. I would be wary. It would be a feather in Deucalion’s hat to get a Hale.”

“How does that work though? I mean Alphas go feral without Betas right? Or…you keep talking like this Deucalion is the Alpha of the Alpha pack. Do the other alphas support each other in the pack bond as his betas?” Stiles asked.

Devon smiled. “Very astute. You were only turned a couple of days ago?”

“Yeah but my best friend Scott was bitten by Peter like five months ago so since then I’ve learned all I could.”

“Yes. The other alphas act as betas for Deuc. He’s also not realized this yet but he’s not as strong as he thinks he is. Yes the sacrifice of one’s beta may give the alpha a temporary boost but it doesn’t last and the bonds between alphas are tentative. If he keeps this up he’ll either go completely feral or the others will lose their alpha sparks and they’ll be a normal pack.” Satomi sighed. “Deuc acts like he’s the first to discover such a thing instead of only the most recent. Still that’s an issue for another day. Please tell me what has happened to you since the fire Derek?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to keep the chapters an even length for happy reading but I'm gonna post the whole meeting today.


	11. Wanted: Kate Argent Dead or Alive…Preferably Dead

Derek looked down and sighed. He traced the edge of the tea cup with one finger. He felt Stiles shift over and lean his chest against Derek’s shoulder taking his free hand in his own and twining their fingers together. He tilted his head over to nuzzle the boy.

“First off you should know the fire was my fault.”

“No it wasn’t.” Stiles injected.

“I told her things Stiles! And the things I told her she used to kill my family. That’s my fault.”

Stiles growled for the first time before abruptly stopping surprised at the sound that had come out of him before shaking his head and pressing back into Derek. “Let me tell this part. You have a very skewed view of what happened.” He turned to face Satomi. “Kate Argent was a pedophilic psychopath who seduced a then 14-15 year old Derek. She used what she learned from him and the Beacon Hills High School Chemistry teacher to set the fire that killed the Hales. I think we can ALL agree that that’s on her not you Derek. You were just another one of her victims.”

“This is true Derek. You are not alone either. Kate’s MO is frequently seducing young boys to get close to their packs. I know of at least two other instances in the last few years that were tied to her. She typically killed the boys afterward when they’re still in shock. I assume Laura got you away from Beacon Hills so quickly to protect you?” Devon told him.

“She did?” Derek radiated pain. Bringing all this up wasn’t good for him. He pushed back from the table to pull Stiles into his lap and bury his face in the boy’s neck.

“She’s dead by the way. Peter killed her a few months ago.” Stiles told them even as he held tight to his Alpha.

“Then the supernatural community can breathe a sigh of relief. Tell Peter he’s entitled to quite the reward. There was a significant bounty on her head. I’ll say this for Deuc’s pack. They are good at taking out rogue hunters. They’ve been after Kate for a while.” Satomi told them. She looked at Derek sympathetically. “I know Laura inherited her mother’s alpha spark. She took Derek and fled Beacon Hills. I heard about her occasionally through the supernatural grapevine. You two moved about quite a bit. I did not even know Derek had survived until you settled at the college in Maryland. I was completely unaware Peter had survived the fire. Where has he been keeping himself?”

Derek pulled back from Stiles with a deep breath. He moved Stiles to face their hosts but didn’t let the beta out of his lap. He hooked his chin over Stiles’ shoulder keeping him wrapped in his arms. “Laura…kept me isolated. Until college I was never allowed to talk to any other werewolves. As for Peter much like you I didn’t know he’d survived until a year or two ago. Laura got me away and then returned to make sure Peter was put in long term care in Beacon Hills Hospital. He was badly burned in the fire but he survived. I don’t know why she cut his bond; why she never took on any other betas. She never bit anyone else. She would never tell me why. Being her only beta though was…bad.” Derek sighed. He wasn’t ready to talk about Laura. If he would ever be.

“Peter was an omega in the hospital? His healing though?”

“He describes it as his personality was burned out of him. He was awake, alone, and healing cell by cell while the doctors were unaware that the pain meds did nothing to help him. It’s no wonder when he could finally move again he was completely unhinged.” Derek shook his head. “I was at college in the dorms when I felt Laura’s alpha bond snap. She had called me on Yule to tell me she was heading towards Beacon Hills. She wouldn’t tell me why. I jumped on a plane and flew out here. I found her car up at the old Hale house and then I found where she’d been killed…” He trailed off.

Stiles took up the narrative then. “My father’s the Sheriff in Beacon Hills. I monitor the radio scanner. I heard some joggers had found the lower half of a body near a trail in the Preserve. In a move out of Stephen King’s  _ The Body _ I went and got my friend Scott. I knew my dad was out in the Preserve with cadaver dogs looking for the other half of the body. I thought it would be fun if Scott and me went out and found it first.” He sighed looking down at his lap were his and Derek’s hands were wrapped around each other. “My dad found us first. He grabbed me and grounded me. I didn’t rat out Scott though…I wish now that I had. I mean Dad already assumed Scott was out there…”

Derek squeezed his hand in encouragement. “According to Scott a big black monster with red eyes came out of nowhere and attacked him, he dropped his inhaler when he tripped backwards over the top half of Laura’s body. It bit him but the next day it was almost healed. Then that afternoon we were looking for Scott’s inhaler out in the Preserve.”

“I heard them and having found the inhaler went and gave it to them. I could tell Scott was turning but at the time hadn’t connected Laura’s death with a rogue alpha who’d bitten Scott.”

Stiles rubbed his shorn head with one hand. “If we get bogged down with details this will take forever.”

Derek nodded. “To make a long story short we, Scott, Stiles and I, ran around town trying to figure out who the alpha was and why it kept killing people. They seemed unrelated at first.”

“Turns out Peter was killing everyone who had anything to do with the fire culminating in Kate. The arsonists that helped her. The arson investigator she paid off. The claims adjuster who signed off on it being an accident also paid off by Kate.”

“Doesn’t sound like Peter was all that crazy. That takes a lot of planning.” Satomi refilled her tea cup.

Derek and Stiles winced. “Trust us. He may have had his coherent moments but he was not in a healthy state of mind. At all. At one point he nearly ripped Derek’s lungs out and chased Scott, me, and three other kids through our high school. Oh those three other kids? They all know about the supernatural now. Introduced in the worst possible way. Allison, Scott’s girlfriend at the time, is an Argent who her dad had been trying to protect from all this which blew up in his face when Kate and Gerard came to town. Jackson was jealous of the sudden athletic prowess Scott was displaying on the lacrosse field and wanted the bite. Peter did bite Lydia only she didn’t turn. She’s…something else and whatever that something else is Peter later used her to return to life using Derek’s blood.”

“You’re getting ahead of yourself again.” Derek told him. “So we discovered Peter was the alpha and everyone ended up at the old Hale House. Peter, me, Scott, Lydia, Jackson, Allison, Kate, and Chris Argent. Peter killed Kate and was about to kill Allison. Lydia made a Molotov cocktail and hit him with it. Then I…I ripped out his throat.” Derek trailed off again. He had a lot of bad memories but these last few months had added to them significantly.

“And now you’re the alpha.”


	12. No One Expects a Kamina

Derek nodded. “I buried Peter under the house and at Jackson’s request bit him. But…the bond didn’t form? At the time I thought it was something that had to build. It wasn’t like Mom or Laura ever bit anyone. I didn’t know it should have formed immediately. I let Jackson go home while I buried Peter. When I talked to him a few days later he told me he’d been throwing up black blood and I assumed…” Derek sighed. “I assumed it just didn’t take and that that is why the bond didn’t form. I knew I needed betas though. I was…terrified of going feral. I asked Scott to join my pack. The bond between him and Peter never stabilized. Scott has fought being a wolf every step of the way. If he doesn’t help him on the lacrosse field or getting a girlfriend he’s just completely unwilling to listen to a word I say.”

“He blames you.” Stiles spoke up.

“For what? I didn’t bite him.”

“For killing Peter. Remember? He thought he’d be cured if he killed the alpha that bit him.”

“Where did he hear that old wolf’s tale? The only thing killing the alpha that bit you will achieve is making you an alpha.” Satomi waved a hand in disbelief.

Derek winced. “I told him that. Like I said he didn’t want to listen to me. To help me. I told him that so he’d work with me to take down the feral alpha. It was the only thing that got him to help me. Even when I was dying...”

“Coming back to bite you now…that pun was not intended.” Stiles said chuckling. “So, and I only learned this yesterday cause Scott never mentioned it to me, Derek asked Scott to join his pack and Scott refused.”

“Which sucked for more than one reason because I really wanted to offer Stiles the bite but figured he wouldn’t want it unless Scott was already in the pack.”

“Scott and I have been friends for years and years.” Stiles said with a hand waved explanation as to why Derek had assumed they were a package deal. Hell Stiles had assumed they were a package thinking he’d have to convince Scott to join the pack before Derek would take Stiles.

“So first I was just moving around town. Looking for a place to stay-“

“And somehow deciding on an abandoned railway station.”

Derek rolled his eyes. “I found Isaac first. His dad…not a good guy. Isaac was in an open grave and his dad had moved a backhoe over the top so Isaac couldn’t get out. I moved the backhoe and when Isaac saw that he wanted the bite. I told him it might not take. I told him about hunters. About how hard control could be but he still wanted it. Being abused like he was he jumped at the chance to be strong. I bit him and it took a day or so but the bond formed in a few hours and he survived. Next Stiles and Scott told me about a girl at the high school with epilepsy. I went to her hospital room and gave her the warnings but to cure her disease she too agreed to the bite. After that I came across Vernon Boyd. He was lonely just like me. Both of us thought the pack would help…”

Derek deflated. “I tried. I taught them about anchors. I taught them to fight as best as I could. I taught them control through pain. I taught them about their senses. I thought we were okay. Maybe I was too hard on them. Too harsh. The bonds…they were there but they weren’t getting stronger and nothing I tried helped. I insisted we eat meals together. Tried to be affectionate like I am with Stiles.” He hugged Stiles and turned his head to lightly bite his neck with blunt human teeth then lick the mark as it faded slower than it normally would. “But they shied away from me. Erica, at first, was affectionate but she wanted more and more too fast and too far.” Derek shuddered. Maybe biting a busty forward blonde wasn’t such a good idea. “And when the bonds didn’t form I reached for my own anchor, anger, too often.” He shook his head ashamed.

“Then…” Stiles took up the tale. “Remember Jackson? Well the bite turned him into a kamina.”

Both Satomi and Devon looked surprised though not confused so Stiles continued.

“His master at first was a kid at school named Matt. Who sent him after the old high school swim team because they stood by and did nothing one time when he was drowning. That’s how Isaac’s dad was finally killed because he was the swim coach when it happened. Then Matt was killed and Gerard Argent took control of Jackson using him to paralyze Derek so that Scott could force him to give the old man the bite.”

Ignoring the horrified looks on Satomi and Devon’s face a tense Derek continued. “We know all that now but at the time there was a lot of Scott, Stiles, and Lydia along with me and my pack running around clueless trying to find out who the kamina was and how to stop it.”

“Around this time too Lydia went missing and then poisoned Derek to get him back to Hale house during the Worm Moon in order to resurrect Peter. Granted she totally wasn’t in her right mind during any of that.”

“At least Peter came back right if a little weaker than normal. He’s sane now. He’s in New York straightening out the Hale estate but he is technically in my pack. I wasn’t able to bond him before he left. I needed time to process but I’ll bind him when he returns in a few days.”

“Anyway true love conquers all. Lydia is Jackson’s girlfriend and she managed to turn him back long enough for Derek to bite him and really turn him into a wolf this time.”

“However the whole time we were dealing with the kamina. Gerard was in town stirring things up.”

“He took over as the principal at my school and Victoria Argent became a teacher. Gods only know what happened to the old principal and teacher or how they got the school board to agree to whatever trumped up creds they were able to fabricate.” Stiles said throwing his hands in the air. He’d dropped hints to his dad about how weird that was but the Sheriff was too busy dealing with the kamina murders to deal with a weird new principal.

“Victoria tried to kill Scott for dating Allison, her daughter. While saving him I bit her by accident. She followed the code committing suicide but then Allison blamed that on me and my betas. She and her grandfather tracked us down and while I was fighting with the kamina she shot Erica and Boyd full of wolfsbane arrows!”

“And then took them down into the Argent’s basement and tortured them! Erica and Boyd are only 18. Gerard kidnapped me a few hours later and they were still down there. He beat me up pretty badly.” Stiles winced shifting uncomfortably in remembrance. Derek squeezed him tighter. “Chris Argent, man he must be the only one of them that has any kind of moral core, he freed us and made sure we all got home okay. Lydia and I drove to the warehouse later and hit Jackson with my jeep giving Lydia the chance to turn him back.”

“Aggravating the injuries Stiles had been given by Gerard. Then we find out that Scott was only pretending to join my pack and help with the kamina. The whole time he was working with Gerard.”

“Only that turned out to be yet another double cross. Scott was working with Dr. Alan Deaton the vet and druid apparently and they replaced his cancer meds, that’s why he wanted the bite, to cure his cancer, with mountain ash tablets so he started immediately throwing up black blood.”

“But he’s not dead yet. I don’t know if it’ll actually kill him or just delay the change. The bond started forming but I rejected it immediately.”


	13. So he could still be alive?

“So…you mean he might eventually burn through the mountain ash and survive as a werewolf?” Stiles swallowed hard. He had a vivid flashback to that basement and whimpered letting his alpha pull him in and comfort him.

Derek looked at the shocked elders across the table. “Gerard beat Stiles nearly to death in that basement. After the dust had settled he called me and asked for the bite. Right after I agreed he told me he was hurt. When I got there…” he squeezed Stiles tighter and kissed his temple. “Thank Arianrhod he turned so fast. Stiles is a spark. Not that Deaton ever told him anything about that after initially kick starting it by teaching him to spread mountain ash. We believe he turned so fast because he wanted to be a wolf so much that once he got the bite he knew he needed he turned almost immediately.”

“Glad I convinced you.” Stiles sighed out as he licked Derek’s cheek. “That’s the other stupid thing. After all Derek did trying to protect everyone they all left him. Scott lied and never joined the pack at all. Jackson and Lydia decided they were enough for each other. Ditto Erica, Boyd, and Isaac. Isaac has a hard-on for Scott and decided to make him his new anchor.”

“So before Stiles called I was packless again and…I was already such a shitty alpha I didn’t want to saddle Stiles with me but it’s…so different with Stiles. It’s easy. This,” he nipped Stiles’ upturned nose getting a nip on his chin in return, “is so easy. It’s been less than two days and already our bond is stronger and brighter than my bonds with the betas I had for months.”

Satomi and Devon looked at each other before turning back to the cuddling wolves. “Is…is that all? All this has happened in just the last five months?”

Derek and Stiles nodded. Derek finally reached out and took a drink of the now cold tea to wet his throat after all the talking he wasn’t normally accustomed to. He didn’t quite hide his wince at the pungent taste but then winced again glancing at Satomi worried he’d insulted her. He didn’t need to worry. The older alpha was looking at her husband and seemed to be having a silent conversation. Derek squeezed Stiles again. He looked at him to see how he was dealing.

Stiles wasn’t exactly enjoying the tea but took another drink noting it was way sweeter than he was expecting given the amount of sugar he put in it.

Derek smiled guessing at Stiles’ look. “Your taste buds are more sensitive now to go along with your more sensitive nose. You’ll find yourself needing less sugar, less salt for things now.” He was gentle telling Stiles this his mouth near his ear giving it a lick while he was there.

Stiles nodded. “That makes sense.” He licked his lips as was his habit before leaning to lick at the underside of Derek’s jaw using the taste of his alpha’s skin to chase away the too sweet taste on his tongue.

“Alright.” Satomi started.

Derek and Stiles left off licking each other to give the alpha their full attention. Stiles momentarily marveled at how unembarrassed he was to do that in front of them but he guessed it was different in front of other wolves. No one acted like it was odd that he and Derek were so very tactile with each other.

“If I followed all that correctly. In order of immediate threat. In Beacon Hills there is the Argent family made up of Chris, Allison, and a bitten and poisoned but presumably recovering omega Gerard. Omega Scott who has been packless for 5 months and is league with the hunters. Omega Jackson who was recently a kamina who did murder several people and is presumably blue eyed. Lydia who is something with a connection to death as she was capable of aiding in a resurrection. And finally Omegas Isaac, Erica, and Boyd who at the very least have received training from their alpha before rebelling in a very teenage fashion and foolishly leaving said alpha.”

“You’re forgetting Deaton who I will be having a VERY stern talk with very soon. Retired doesn’t mean you stick your head in the sand.” Devon poured himself another cup of tea from the still hot pot and refilled her wife’s cup. He offered to Derek and Stiles to be polite but anticipated their response putting the pot down with their cups unfilled.

“Yes. He very much needs taken to task for his blatant neglect of his duties to the Hale pack and these supernatural children. It’s enough to make one want to call the Circle.”

“Depending on what I find out I still may. This is unconscionable. Allowing three children to deal with hunters and a feral alpha.” Devon frowned fiercely.

Satomi continued. “And the only stable supernaturals in Beacon Hills are you two. A young untrained alpha and his two sparked beta who has no training in his magic. Soon to be joined by The Peter Hale. Is Peter as…fierce as he was before the fire?”

Derek shook his head. “No. He said it may take several moons before he’s at full strength again.”

“Maybe I can help with that?” Stiles said.

“You, young man, need a tremendous amount of training before you start thinking about directing your spark.” Devon told him. “Sparks like yours are rare. I will be contacting the Circle and having someone come and test you to determine exactly what kind of spark you have.”

“The Circle?”

“The Circle of Druids. They maintain the balance and it’s clear that things are very out of balance in Beacon Hills.” Devon seemed quietly furious. Even more so than his werewolf wife.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of the meeting with Alpha Ito. I'm gonna reread the next section a few times. Probably post in a few days.


	14. I Deserve a Home

They left Alpha Ito’s after arranging a meeting place in Beacon Hills so the older alpha could meet the omegas and see if she wanted to take any of them on. Derek chose the railway station as everyone already knew where it was and Stiles sent out the email telling everyone to meet there tomorrow.

Meanwhile Devon gave Stiles a list of contacts he thought would be able to help him. Unfortunately it’d be another week before someone could come out and look at what Stiles’ original spark was and whether he’d keep it or if it’d be assimilated.

Derek drove away from the other alpha’s house feeling as if he might actually be getting a handle on things for once. He wished he’d thought of coming to see Alpha Ito 5 months ago. If only he’d ignored Scott and offered Stiles the bite directly. He reached over and squeezed the boy’s knee.

“What do you want to do now?” Derek asked.

Stiles looked up from his phone. “Well there’s a couple of houses for sale we could go look at. Just the three of us right now so I was thinking something small with room to grow? Also can’t discount that you’ll want something immediately comfortable at first. Maybe an apartment?”

Derek wrinkled his nose. “I hate apartments. So many smells and noises all jammed together.”

Stiles nodded. He got that. He’d realize with no small amount of disgust that he could hear his elderly neighbors having sex right before they left his house. He could have gone his whole life without that mental picture. “So no neighbors. Got it.”

He tapped on his phone for a few more minutes. “Hmm here’s a hunting cabin someone has for sale. It’s up in the middle of nowhere in the Preserve. Not really close to the old Hale house either. Looks like it’s on the opposite side of town. Probably doesn’t have internet but apparently it does having running water and power. Fireplace but no cooling system….does Paul Hale Real Estate mean anything to you?”

Derek frowned. “Yeah. My great uncle was Paul Hale. Guess that’s one of the Hale businesses that kept going even after the family died.”

Stiles chuckled. “So you might sort of already own this property. Imma call Peter and find out.”

An hour later the pack of two meet the real estate agent, Linda, in front of the cabin. She had already opened the front and back doors to air the place out. It hadn’t helped in Stiles’ opinion. As human he would have probably noted the lived in state of the bed and couch as only minor problems. As a werewolf the pungent smell of cum, sweat, mold, urine, and animal blood in the cabin was overwhelming. He walked quickly through to the kitchen making sure the appliances were in working order, they weren’t, and then just as quickly exited out the back door to take a deep breath of clean fresh forest air but even that was tainted by the smell of dried animal blood on a shed in the back that the hunter must have dressed and stored his kills in.

Derek and the agent followed him out to the backyard such as it was. It was framed by stacks of cut wood and a clothesline. Otherwise it backed directly into the woods. The cabin was liberally shaded by huge trees and it was surprisingly cool.

“Looks good. We’ll take it.” Derek said brusquely.

“Oh hell no we’re not.” Stiles rebutted.

Both the agent and Derek looked surprised. Stiles noted the woman seemed to be standing just a little too close to his alpha and resisted the urge to growl and flash his eyes at her only barely.

“Stiles-“

“No. It’s filthy in there and it smells.”

“We can clean it.” Derek said rolling his eyes.

“Or we can ask the nice real estate agent who probably has tons of contacts to have it professionally cleaned with all natural products and to have all the furniture replaced as there’s definitely mold growing in there. None of the appliances work adequately so they need replaced too. This place isn’t habitable until those things are done.”

“It’s fine.” Derek said.

“No it’s not.”

“Stiles.”

“Derek no.” Stiles walked over and grabbed Derek’s hands. “Repeat after me.”

“Stiles.” Derek tried to glare at him and if the real estate agent wasn’t right there would probably have knocked Stiles down and wrestled him into submission.

Stiles, however, was ignoring that. “No. Repeat after me. I deserve to sleep somewhere clean.”

Derek stilled. Stiles’ words from the day before ran through his head. ‘You wouldn’t let me live somewhere like that would you?’ He looked down to Stiles’ long fingers wrapped in and around his own. “I deserve to sleep somewhere clean.” He muttered quietly.

“I deserve a home where I can feel comfortable.”

“I deserve a home where I can feel comfortable.”

“And safe.”

“And safe.”

“And happy.”

Derek froze. He felt Stiles’ fingers lift and tangle in his hair until his head was tilted so he could look into Stiles’ amber eyes. “And happy.” He whispered too low for anyone but a werewolf to hear.

Stiles smiled at him and Derek could smell how proud Stiles was of him. He hugged the shorter werewolf tightly.

With a final squeeze Stiles pulled back. “I’ll talk to the agent and get everything worked out. You go check out that shed. It stinks bad. Might need to pull it down.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry. Work exploded. Enjoy these next few chapters.


	15. Working the Gossip Mill

Stiles walked over to the blonde real estate agent. “Sorry about that. Sometimes the big guy needs reminding.”

She shook her head before leaning closer clearly trying to make sure Derek didn’t hear them. “It’s fine. After the tragedy it’s no surprise he might have some hang ups. Especially coming back to this town. Is it true that Laura took custody of him after the fire? Because I went to school with Laura, and not to speak ill of the dead, but I wouldn’t have trusted the girl with a goldfish. She had a cruel streak. May she rest in peace.” Linda appeared to cross herself but there seemed to be a few extra movements making a star instead of a cross.

“Yeah Laura took care of Derek afterwards. Good thing too. They’re linking Kate Argent to multiple mass murders now. If Laura hadn’t grabbed Derek and run when she had…” Stiles purposely trailed off and shook his head. He could hear Derek’s breathing and heartbeat behind him and knew he didn’t like the tone or topic of their conversation but Stiles was old hat at small town gossip. You couldn’t just blow people off. They were likely to make up even wilder stories if you did. The trick was misdirection and to feed them just enough to make them think what you wanted them to. Stiles wanted this lady to spread a tale of a quiet and maybe slightly damaged Derek (truth) who was saved by his sister’s quick actions (truth) from the evil Argent (truth). He left out that Kate was a pedophile as well as a murderer. Derek didn’t want that to get out. He left out that Laura may have saved Derek but she didn’t take the best care of him although the little display they’d just put on would fuel that.

Stiles hadn’t thought about that. Derek, Laura, even Peter. They grew up here. They went to school. They’d had completely normal friends and classmates that would have known them back then. Maybe Stiles should look into helping Derek hunt down some old friends from earlier in his life. Get some sort of support system in place for the Alpha.

“It’s just horrible.” She shook her head. “My dad is a firefighter and he says he’ll never get the sight of those little bitty body bags out of his head. He came straight home afterwards and just cried and held us. His best friend was Jimmy Hale. They worked together but Jimmy wasn’t on-call that day. He was home. Dad was furious when it was ruled an accident. Said there was no way Jimmy would have let that fire get out of control like that. He always believed it was arson. Argued with the fire inspector. I remember there was a petition that all the fire fighters signed that saw the man losing his job. He was killed a few months ago. Argent cleaning up after herself I hear. Dad said he got what was coming to him.”

Stiles nodded solemnly. “Yeah my dad’s the Sheriff. I can’t tell you how many times he brought the Hale file home to look over. Honestly I don’t know anyone who didn’t think something was shady about the whole thing.” Stiles paused. Except Scott of course. But then again most of the kids who were too young to remember the last generation of Hales didn’t think much of anything about the fire that they hadn’t heard from their parents. Derek wasn’t the youngest Hale but he’d been the only one still in school. The Hale’s homeschooled until high school. Which made sense if they had to wait until they could control their shifts before going out in public.

She nodded again. “Okay. Let’s get to business. You’re right. I know a great company. All natural ingredients. They guarantee no lingering chemical smell but they’re very thorough and come highly recommended. Sounds like you want the whole place gutted. Furniture and appliances replaced. Walls and floors etc. thoroughly cleaned. I know this place passed inspection when it first went on the market but that was last summer. I can have someone come out and check it over for soundness. You have to be careful with these old cabins. As the seasons pass they can settle. The wood swells and contracts, etc.” She flipped open the cover on her tablet and pulled out a stylus as she started writing things down.

“Do you have anything a little more ready to be inhabited in the meantime?” Stiles leaned in for her benefit even though he knew Derek could still hear him. “Until I made him stay with me he was living up at the old house.”

Her eyes widened as she looked over at Derek who was investigating the woodpile. “No.” She mouthed but didn’t actually say out loud. At Stiles’ nod she covered her mouth with the hand holding the stylus and shook her head. Stiles could smell how genuinely concerned and sad she was. She looked down at her tablet again and opened another window. Stiles was a little surprised she got signal out here. “Well there are some vacation cabins up near the lake that can be rented for a week at a time. My aunt works up there so I know they’re in good shape. I can give her a call and see if any are open right now? It shouldn’t take more than a week to get the cabin cleaned and inspected. I assume you’ll want to pick out your own furniture and appliances and have them delivered?”

“Yes please. Give us a call once everything is cleaned and we’ll come in and do some measuring.”

“Sounds like a plan. Let me call my aunt while you talk to Derek.” She paused before unlocking her phone. She bit her lip looking over at Derek who had moved a little deeper in the woods. “So are you two…together?”

“Oh. Well…” Stiles blushed and took a deep breath unsure how to answer this question until he heard a “Yes.” from his alpha too far away for the agent to hear. “Yeah. We are. It’s still pretty new. Ya know? Having trouble believing it. I mean him…” waving a hand in Derek’s direction with a bit of a blush, “and me,” Stiles gave himself a similar wave that he hoped conveyed how inadequate he felt comparatively. Sure Derek thought he was gorgeous but that was still so new Stiles was having trouble coming to terms with it.

She smiled mischievously. “Oh no. I can totally see it. You guys are cute together. You…fit. You line up nicely. All broad shoulders and narrow hips and nice arms. Gods if you two could have kids together they’d probably be the most gorgeous children on the planet.”

Stiles looked at her surprised but he was listening. She was serious. That she thought Derek was gorgeous almost went without saying that she thought Stiles was cute and worthy of Derek the Adonis was surprising but her heart rate was steady. “Th-thank you.”

She smiled at him and unlocked her phone. As she started catching up with her aunt while asking about available cabins Stiles followed Derek into the woods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm from the US Southeast and am under the impression all small towns work like this. Everyone knows everyone. Everyone went to school together. Etc.
> 
> The mention of how Stiles and Derek fit together comes from a post on tumblr.


	16. Names and Ages

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Surprise

The alpha didn’t turn as Stiles walked up and wrapped his arms around his back. He rested his chin on Derek’s shoulder. “We’re together huh?”

“I thought that was kind of obvious.” Derek chuckled. “We did make out earlier. Naked. In a bathtub.”

Stiles blushed remembering that.

“No sex until you turn 18 though.” Derek told him.

Stiles blinked at that before a devious smile crossed his face. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. “You mean we can get started right away then.”

Derek turned and looked down at Stiles with a frown. He took the proffered wallet with the driver’s license in the clear display pocket. “Is this fake? You’re a sophomore.”

Stiles shrugged. “My ADHD didn’t get diagnosed until I was almost ten. Then it took a few years to get me on the right kind of meds. I take Adderall. Or I did?” Stiles frowned he hadn’t taken the pills in the last two days. Would lycanthropy cure his disorder? Would it if he believed it would? He told himself firmly that lycanthropy had cured his ADHD and got back on topic. “Then my mom got sick right about that time and I started really acting out at school to deal with it. I missed a bunch of school. Then Mom died and Dad crawled into a bottle and…it was just a lot in a very short period of time. I had to repeat a couple of grades. Suddenly I was the big kid in the class and that’s how Scott and I fell together. He was the weak little asthmatic kid. He got picked on a lot and I put a stop to that just by virtue of, ya know, being the bigger kid at the time. Scottie was super nice. Didn’t call me dummy like the others. So yeah. Eighteen year old sophomore or junior now.”

Derek raised his eyebrows but he smelt kind of relieved. He looked back down at the license and Stiles could see his lips moving. Stiles made a grab for it but Derek held it up out of reach. The alpha was still faster. “Mieczyslaw.”

“Hey! No! We don’t say the name although I admit to being impressed you can say it at all.”

“I speak Russian and Turkish. Not Polish but I know how it should sound. Why do you go by Stiles? Isn’t Mieszko the short name for Mieczyslaw? You could go by Misha if you wanted to kind of Anglicize it. Why Stiles?”

Stiles rolled his eyes and made another grab for his wallet. Derek let him have it this time. “‘Cause of Scott. Ironically there’s this old Michael J. Fox movie called Teen Wolf and the teen wolf in question is named Scott McCall. Scott loved that movie growing up. We literally wore out the VHS of it and in the movie Scott’s best friend is Rupert “Stiles” Stilinski.”

Derek nodded. “Why?”

“Why did I choose a nickname based on a character in a movie or why am I named something 10 characters and 5 syllables long?”

“The second one. Isn’t your dad’s name John?”

“No. That’s just what he likes to be called. My grandfather, Mom’s dad, is my namesake. The first time Dad met him he told Mom he wanted to name a son after him. Fun fact: Mom and Dad were filing their marriage license before Dad finally told Mom his legal first name was Krzysztof so you should feel honored you already know mine. Even Scott doesn’t know my name.”

Derek looked even more confused now. “How, if Scott is the reason you go by Stiles, does he not know your name?”

“Well before Stiles Mom called me Mischief and that’s what I went by.”

Derek just stared before pinching the bridge of his nose. He looked angry and frustrated and like he was seconds from slashing Stiles’ throat out. He smelled like he was trying not to piss himself laughing. “So you were a hyperactive little boy with attention deficit disorder literally named Mischief? Oh Elatha I wish I had known you then.” He looked at Stiles over his hand. “You would have done well at my school. Or my home school. Actual baby werewolves not just newly turned ones are an absolute nightmare to deal with. Hyper, prone to chasing whatever bit of dandelion fluff passes their noses, breaking into wrestling matches every few minutes. You’d have fit right in.” His smile turned a little sad remembering. “I helped teach the science classes. Lots of nature walks.”

Stiles moved forward wrapping his arms around him and nuzzling his neck giving it a few licks. Derek kissed his forehead and it was this scene that Linda practically tripped upon in her impractical for the forest kitten heels. Stiles was sure she was usually much more graceful walking through houses.

“Oops.”

They looked up at her. “No it’s okay.” Derek said giving Stiles’ waist a squeeze.

Linda smiled in an ‘aren’t you guys cute’ sort of way. “I just got off the phone with my aunt. The only cabin they have open right now is a two bedroom. Is that alright?”

“Yeah my uncle Peter will be joining us in a few days. That’s perfect.”

“Oh if you need a bigger house I have more available that we can look at. The points you made about this one are very valid and I’m afraid the preferred cleaning company is booked for a month. If you let me know your requirements I’m sure I can find you something.”

Stiles looked up at Derek. After all it was his money but Derek was looking back down at him.

“Your money.” Stiles reminded him.

Derek rolled his eyes. “Our money remember. You handle this. Find us some place nice. You know what I want and you know my judgement is…compromised in this area. I trust you.”

Stiles frowned but the conversation from yesterday, had it really only been yesterday, came back to him. Pack money. This was to be the pack house. “Hmmm…” he turned to face Linda. “Can you give us a sec? Meet you back at the cars. I need to clarify a few things with Derek.”

Linda nodded with a smile and carefully picked her way back towards the dirt driveway. Stiles noted that it needed gravel. Even if they didn’t settle on this place as a pack house it might still be a nice little hiding place once it was cleaned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just really didn't want to deal with the age thing. Besides Stiles getting held back for said reasons isn't all that far fetched. Until he was diagnosed he might have even been in Special Education for a while.
> 
> FYI they will not be getting started right away.


	17. Family Planning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betas: Yes and Betas: Hell no

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: canon topics of rape

“The talks tomorrow with Alpha Ito might see some of them realizing the mistake they made and coming back to you. Would you take them back?”

Derek shrugged. “Boyd definitely. Isaac and Erica probably. Jackson and Lydia, eh, but…Scott.” He frowned and for once his face matched his smell. “He…I don’t think I’ll ever be able to trust him Stiles. I’m sorry. I know how important he is to you but to work with Gerard like that. To paralyze me. Put his hands on my body and force my mouth open and make me bite that disgusting-“ Derek nearly fell backward as Stiles almost glued himself to Derek tucking himself up to the alpha and squeezing him tightly. He licked his cheek and whined sympathetically.

Stiles knew that Scott had been an asshole about the whole thing and had been planning to take him to task about it but he hadn’t been in Derek’s body when it was happening. To hear him describe it like that…it almost sounded like Scott and Gerard had raped him. No they had raped him. They had violated Derek’s body against his will. Maybe not sexually but they had very much hurt Derek. Forced him to give up a part of himself that he considered sacred for their own gain.

“It’s fine. I wouldn’t trust him anymore after that either. No Scott. Scott is persona non grata for the Hale pack. Got it.”

“Really? You…I can’t ask you to give up your best friend for me Stiles.”

“He raped you Derek.” It was really starting to settle in now. Scott had raped Derek. It hadn’t really clicked at first but now that Stiles was thinking about it the whole thing made his skin crawl. If he had discovered Scott had raped anyone, not just Derek, but Heather or Erica or Allison or anyone could he ever remain friends with him? No he couldn’t.

Derek shook his head but Stiles just held him tighter and very gently bit his neck holding his teeth just there as Derek relaxed. “Stiles.”

“My Alpha. Mine.” Stiles breathed him in gently licking where his teeth had been.

Derek leaned in to the affection closing his eyes for a few minutes until the memory of being helpless faded.

Smelling that Derek was doing better Stiles changed the subject. “So we thinking 3-4 bedrooms minimum? No neighbors. Close to or in the woods preferably. Clean. Anything else you really super want?”

“A security system.”

“Gotcha. May have to install that ourselves. Let’s go talk to Linda. Or I’ll do the talking you just stand there looking gorgeous and growly.”

Derek rolled his eyes but he seemed better. Still they held hands as they walked around to the front of the house.

“Hey guys! So I made some assumptions while you were gone but given this location and the location of the old Hale house I figured something more rural would be appreciated. Any idea as to the number of bedrooms you’ll want?”

“At least three. Two baths, preferable both with nice big tubs. Nice kitchen. Plenty of counter space. Nice big living room too.”

“Bookshelves.” Derek gave some input that had both of them looking at him and the tips of his ears turning red. “I loved the Hale library. I want to rebuild it.”

“You got it Big Guy.” Stiles turned back to Linda whose stylus moved rapidly over her tablet.

“Hmmm…I have two options. Mr. Carson died a couple of months ago. Liver cancer. His son came in for the funeral and took a few personal items from the house but just put the whole thing up for sale furniture and all. We have had people in to clean it. It’s probably a bit dusty but fine otherwise. It passed inspection but it’s noted a lot of the piping was old and the roof will need replaced within the next five years. It has four bedrooms, two baths, including an old fashioned claw foot tub. There’s an old fashioned parlor that isn’t terribly big but it has a study with plenty of bookshelves. The kitchen is midsized. The appliances work but you might want to upgrade. Wraparound porch with a swing. It’s just about the furthest property out of town that we have though and the road leading up to it is in shambles. The house gets its water from a well and a pump house on the property. There is a water softener in the basement but it needs regular rock salt. Power’s not an issue but Mr. Carson never had internet run and I can tell you right now until the road’s fixed the cable company won’t touch it.”

“Any signal out there?”

“It doesn’t say…” She frowned and expanded something. Then shook her head. “That deep in the forest. You know how it is around here. I have a satellite phone I’m using as a hotspot just so I can get a signal out at these remote properties.”

Stiles nodded not letting on that Derek at least was putting out chemo signals that said he was definitely interested. “And the other option?”

“Well it’s not really a house. There’s a would-be apartment building on the edge of town. The developers were thinking of turning it into loft apartments when the money ran out. Still it’s got water and power and internet. They’re all completely unfurnished. There are no neighbors however that’s for sure. It’s right on the edge of Beacon Hills’ so-called industrial district and backs right up to the preserve. The apartments aren’t really for rent though. The building itself is for sale.”

“Hmmmm….”

They turned to face Derek.

“How much are they?”

Linda named a price that made Stiles want to back away quickly but Derek just nodded.

“Let’s get settled in the rental cabin. We’ll be in touch over the next few days. Once Peter gets back we’ll give you a call and set up an appointment to see both properties. I definitely like the house but it needs some work before Stiles would be happy.”

Stiles sputtered.

Derek smiled at him. “No internet? Please Stiles could you go a day without internet?”

Stiles crossed his arms over his chest. The tighter shirt stretched over his lean muscles and broad shoulders reminding Derek that he didn’t have to wait or feel guilty about the want strumming through him. Stiles blushed at the look Derek gave him and the lustful chemo signals he was picking up. He licked his lips quickly as Derek looked away.

“Regardless the apartment building sounds like an interesting investment property. I’ll talk it over with Peter. We might take all three.”

Linda looked hopeful and pleased. “That would be wonderful. Okay here’s my card with all my contact information. I shot off a text to my aunt and she’ll hold the cabin for you. Here’s the address. Just walk in and ask for Mrs. Long.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On the topic of breaking of friendships due to circumstances like the ones presented in the show. I asked my husband this as a barometer of normal male friendships. Specifically naming friends he'd had for over 20 years. The question was if he discovered one of his friends had raped someone would he still be friends with them. No. Absolutely not. I presented Derek's situation as well and same answer. This was a horrible thing Scott and Gerard did and in no way should he be excused for it. That being said you can't just turn your feelings off either and that'll be addressed later on as well.


	18. Opie

Stiles was lazily licking Derek’s wrist as they watched the small TV in the cabin that had the local cable package. An Andy Griffith rerun was showing. Stiles loved the show as a kid. Honestly it’s lucky he didn’t end up with the nickname Opie. He wondered what Opie was a nickname for. Surely that wasn’t his real name. Oh well Stiles would look it up later using the cabin’s Wi-Fi on his phone.

Right now all he wanted to do was watch Andy realize his son hadn’t been lying about Mr. McBeevee the lineman and his twelve extra hands and lick at his alpha’s skin. The inside of Derek’s wrist was very clean. All he could taste right now was skin and the blood that rushed just beneath the surface. The pack bond was feeding him a constantly feedback of love and affection. There was literally nowhere else he’d rather be than laying here in his alpha’s lap licking and being petted in return.

Derek’s big hand was under his shirt laying on his belly. Occasionally he’d stroke his fingers over the soft skin and run his fingers over the thick treasure trail that disappeared under Stiles’ pj bottoms. They’d stopped at Stiles’ house to pick up clothes, books and Stiles’ laptop.

“Won’t your Dad be worried if he comes home to find you gone?”

“He’s still swamped by everything that happened with the kamina. I’ll drive by there in the next few days with some sandwiches and eat lunch with him. During the summer between his job and my summer job and Scott we might go weeks without seeing each other. As long as I text him occasionally and keep the kitchen stocked he won’t worry.

“And you’re eighteen. An adult.” It seemed silly to apply those words to the youthful looking young man but they were true and reassuring to Derek who thought he’d have to wait. Not that he didn’t intend to take things slow. He’d never had sex with a man before and neither had Stiles. Apparently he’d literally been the start of Stiles’ discovery of his bisexuality. As for himself most born wolves were bisexual. A side effect, it was theorized, of their two-natured spark.

“That is such a relief to you isn’t it?”

“Yeah. I thought I had a year or two of blue balls ahead of me.”

Stiles laughed. He could smell the joke and some underlying unease. He’d done the math months ago though. Derek had been a sophomore when Kate attacked him. He didn’t want to bring it up right now but damn if he wasn’t gonna quietly ask Alpha Ito if there was such a thing as a supernatural therapist because if anyone needed one it was Derek. For now he let him deflect with humor. Something Stiles was all too good at. “So are you gonna top? Being, ya know, the alpha and all?

“I don’t know. I’m…I’ve not really…” Derek sighed. “I decided I was gonna experiment in college but really I only got to second base with a girl in my Econ class once. Besides her there’s only been…you know.”

“So basically you’re as virginal as me.”

Derek shrugged. “Yeah. Erica was definitely up for more but she’s…uh…” He shifted uncomfortably.

Stiles sat up in his lap and licked at his ear. “What’s wrong with Erica?”

Derek grimaced. “Nothing really. She just reminds me of Kate sometimes. Looks wise. Please don’t tell her.”

Stiles mimed zipping his lips and locking them.

Derek chuckled before kissing those petal soft lips. “I love your mouth. So soft. So pretty.” He wrapped a hand around Stiles’ jaw and deepened the kiss.

Of course that’s when the phone rang.

Still Derek pulled away slowly licking his lips to chase the taste of Stiles before grabbing the phone from the coffee table his feet were up on. He allowed Stiles to get up with a final peck and head into the kitchen. Probably for another plate of the spaghetti he made earlier.

“Hey Peter.” Derek flipped the phone on speaker and placed it back on the coffee table.

“Alpha. How’d it go with Satomi?”

“Good. Good. We did the initial greetings you told us to then she kind of hand waved the rest. Said she’d teach me protocol later.”

“So she’s still an ally. Good to hear. What’d she think of the last five months?”

“To be honest we started the story six years ago. She was horrified to learn you’d been in the hospital this whole time. If she’d have known she’d have come and bonded you. Helped you heal.”

Peter sighed. “I wish my mind had been clear enough to get a message out to her. I was pretty single minded though.”

Stiles sat back down and handed Derek a plate of spaghetti too. His cheeks were puffy having stuffed too much in his mouth. He was still adjusting to werewolf hunger.

“She said Kate slaughtered a couple of other packs the same way she did ours. Seduced a young teenage wolf, got details of the pack then burnt their houses down with the pack inside. She usually killed the boy she seduced afterwards too. I’m…lucky.” The growl on the last word conveyed his feelings perfectly.

Stiles swallowed and licked his lips clean of tomato sauce. He pressed his shoulder into Derek’s in comfort. “Apparently there was a pretty big bounty on her head. You’re entitled to it. Not that you need it.” Stiles rolled his eyes. Earlier Stiles had been shown emails from Peter to Derek sorting out the Hale wealth. Which was ridiculous. Now Stiles knew why Derek had just shrugged at the amount for the three real estate properties.

Peter chuckled. “Good to know. I used to be pretty good at that you know.” He was quiet for a long minute. “If Talia hadn’t sent me to Europe after…Derek got his blue eyes…I don’t think the Argent bitch would have targeted us. Not to brag but I have well-earned reputation. My exile gave her an opening.” He sighed.

“Yeah Satomi referred to you as THE Peter Hale. What was that about?” Stiles changed the subject he could tell this was a topic neither wolf wanted to stay on.


	19. THE Peter Hale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another call with Peter. He's not home yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Derek's dad was named Frank here. Mostly because I picture him as Frank Grillo. I'm working on another story, a Marvel/Teen Wolf crossover, Where Frank Hale was a deep cover agent in HYDRA/SHIELD named Brock Rumlow, codenamed Crossbones :P

“Are you familiar with the symbolism of a leader having a right and left hand?”

“Yeah like the right hand is kind of like the second in command? And the left hand is like the guy who gets things done. Like the commander of the armed guards might be the right hand but the left hand would be the head shadow of the assassins.”

Peter chuckled. “A bit fantastic but accurate. In wolf packs the alpha mate typically takes the spot of right hand. The left hand is typically one of the best fighters and traditionally a blue eyed wolf. I was Talia’s left hand and yes one of my jobs was ‘getting things done’. I took out threats to the pack. Be they hunters or other supernatural threats. The right hand, Frank, and I frequently worked together. Talia was a diplomat. Frank and I were muscle. For the most part it worked out pretty well. Frank protected the pack closer to home while I took out threats outside of our territory. I don’t know how Frank didn’t notice Argent.”

Stiles involuntarily leaned into Derek feeling him get and smell sadder. “Mom and Dad were fighting a lot. About Laura moving out of state for college. About my blue eyes. About Cora’s…unsettlingly ruthless behavior. Dad threw up something about some…misuse of Mom’s powers. I never heard any details. Not just me but a lot of us started taking any excuse to be out of the house while they fought. I was embarrassed about dating a human. You know Grandmother was kind of…weird about that so I always showered in the school locker room before going home. Uncle Jeremy knew I had a girlfriend and he’d make excuses for me saying I was helping out at the soap shop. He thought it was a girl at my school. Thought she was helping me get over Paige…”

“Who’s Paige?” Stiles asked.

“My girlfriend back when I was a freshman. I thought she wouldn’t accept me unless she was turned. Uncle Peter asked a visiting alpha to bite her…it didn’t take. She was in so much pain when I found her. She begged me to end it. That’s how I got my blue eyes.”

Stiles put his empty plate down and hugged Derek’s side. “Blue eyes?”

“A wolf who has taken an innocent life AND feels guilty about it.” Peter told him. “There’s nothing wrong with having blue eyes. I have blue eyes. Frank had blue eyes. Talia if she’d not been alpha would have had blue eyes. You get in a car accident and someone dies you feel guilty. Something as simple as that can give you blue eyes. I earned mine killing threats to the pack. Sometimes that involved taking out omegas who were too far gone. I always hated that. Now wolves that have killed and still have gold eyes? Those tricky bastards you have to be careful of.”

“Sociopaths.”

“Exactly.”

“Do I have blue eyes?” Stiles asked suddenly frowning and looking at Derek. He’d not seen his eyes or really any signs of his turning aside from the healing, strength, speed, and senses. He kept expecting to get mad for any reason and wolf out but most of his wolfie urges had been ‘Alpha needs cuddle. Cuddle! Cuddle, cuddle, lick, lick, cuddle, cuddle, lick, lick, lick.’

Derek shook his head. “You have gold eyes. You’re gonna have the easiest time hiding them. Sometimes when the light hits your eyes just right they look gold anyway and that was before you turned.”

“Why would you think you had blue eyes Stiles?” Peter asked.

Stiles shrugged and wasn’t surprised when his alpha put his empty plate down and hauled him into his lap. “My mom…I didn’t kill her…not directly…I was there when she died and I’ve always felt so guilty about it. Stress. It sped up the disease. Having an ADHD kid probably didn’t help.”

“Stiles don’t be ridiculous. Your mother loved you.”

“She called you Mischief for crying out loud you don’t think she was delighted with her clever, happy, little boy?”

Stiles shook his head. “There towards the end she kept trying to throw herself off the hospital roof. Said I was a demon she was trying to get away from.”

The older werewolves were silent. “That was just the disease talking Stiles. Before the disease did your mother love you?”

“Yes.”

“Then nothing she said after she started to decline matters. It’s what came before that’s true and the truth is she loved you.”

Stiles nodded like he’d heard this all before. Still he buried his face in Derek’s neck and gave it a little lick rubbing his nose over the wet spot and slowly putting away his sadness for now. Sadness like his and like Derek’s could never fully be vanished. You never stopped missing them. “Tell him about the Alpha Pack.”

Derek nodded running his hands over Stiles’ back and legs soothingly before turning back to the phone. “You remember Alpha Deucalion?”

“Yeah.”

“Well he discovered that by killing his betas he could gain power. Not knowing that it’s only temporary. Then he converted and helped Alpha Ennis and Alpha Kali kill their packs and follow him. Then he helped twin born wolves Aiden and Ethan from another pack kill their alpha and after taking his power, which was split between them, they killed their pack. So now there’s a pack of Alpha werewolves going around, taking bounties and supposedly looking for territory. Satomi said Deucalion would consider it a feather in his cap to get a Hale Alpha.”

“Or the Hale territory.”

Derek nodded.

Stiles snorted. “He nodded. We should really do this through video calls or something. Derek’s communication skills take a hit if you can’t see him. It’s even worse if you can’t smell him.”

Derek scowled at him fiercely but he smelled amused.

Stiles laughed and ran his fingers through the thicker parts of Derek’s beard scratching at the skin underneath.

“Deucalion was always so peaceful. Hard to believe he turned into a homicidal maniac in only a few years.”

“Unlike you who didn’t have far to go.” Derek quipped.

“Wooo Peter you need some ice for that-“ Stiles stopped himself wincing. “Nevermind. That…was…yeah…sorry.”

“It’s alright Stiles.” Peter chuckled. “So we have something else to worry about. Great.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lot of repetition. Sorry but like conversations flow organically. Like sometimes it's relief when the author is like "And then this happened" And they related all that had gone on. But I wanted Peter's reaction, Stiles/Derek comforting each other again, a bit of them acknowledging the threat collectively, and so on. 
> 
> Just a reminder in this AU not only was Stiles bitten and Erica and Boyd not kidnapped but the Alpha Pack aren't anywhere near here right now. They move around a lot. In canon I imagine they were following and gunning for Kate. Here she slipped them or they just followed a different lead on a different bounty. Whatever. In any case while the Hale and Ito Packs are wary they don't have to worry just yet.


	20. Plans for tomorrow...and a hummer?

“It’s alright Stiles.” Peter chuckled. “So we have something else to worry about. Great.”

“Good news is that tomorrow we are at the very least washing our hands of the omega problem.” Derek told him.

“Oh?”

“Yup. We’re all meeting up at the railway station with Alpha Ito and probably her right and left hands and her Emissary. Who is also her husband and who’s gonna call the Circle to deal with Deaton and to help me out with my spark.” Stiles told him. He was really excited to learn more about everything and unlike Deaton Devon actually seemed willing and eager to help him.

“That’s great Stiles. Once we establish a pack house we can restore the Hale Library and make new copies of all the original scripts. Thank God Aunt Elizabeth finished that project before the fire. There should be plenty of information in there to help make you a great Emissary. Now what’s supposed to happen at this meeting of Omegas?”

“We’re gonna introduce everyone to Alpha Ito and just let them know that they have options. Reiterate that being an omega is dangerous even with a good anchor. That the hunters will come for them if they don’t join a pack soon. I almost want to invite Chris Argent. Elatha knows Scott respects the hunters more than he does us.” Derek loosely twined his thicker fingers with Stiles’ long thin ones.

“Isn’t that the truth? I still can’t believe he worked with Gerard Argent of all people. That old man was the worst of the worst.”

Derek gave Stiles a squeeze. The boy flinched whenever Gerard’s name was mentioned.

Peter continued. “Are you gonna take any of your betas back if they ask?”

Derek sighed. “Maybe. I don’t know yet. I just…It may be like with you at first. Can I rebond them? How can I trust them not to leave me again when the going gets tough? I know I was a shitty alpha but I was trying my best. I kept them safe. I taught them things. Helped them find their anchors. Saved Isaac from his father. Cured Erica. And Boyd…I thought he was my friend. We hunted together and they just left me. I lost my pack for the 3rd time…” Derek let Stiles get up and crawl behind him so the younger wolf could hug him tightly. He lapped at the back of Derek’s neck. 

“How do you come back from that? If they’d just gotten mad and stormed out that would have been one thing but they cut their pack bonds. Who does that to someone? To their alpha? How could they not feel?” Derek sighed. “If they want to come back…I’ll try to give them a second chance but it’ll be a long time before I’ll be able to trust them again. I will accept Jackson and Lydia. They weren’t in my pack to begin with and I let Jackson down. I recognize that. Scott however…”

“Oh Omega McCall can rot for all I care. I’d be pretty worried about your self-esteem if you let that wolf in. No offense Stiles.”

“We’re not friends anymore. Not that he knows that.” Stiles rubbed his head. He couldn’t think of Scott anymore without hearing Derek’s voice. ‘To paralyze me. Put his hands on my body and force my mouth open and make me bite that disgusting-‘

“You’re too good for him.” Peter crooned.

Stiles smirked and nuzzled the back of Derek’s neck.

“Yeah. I don’t know if Alpha Ito is willing to take him either. She was pretty disgusted when she heard he’d worked with Gerard even if it was in a convoluted plan to kill him. Although she says if I felt the bond forming with Gerard, and I did but I cut it immediately, then there’s a good chance he did turn and while it’ll take a long time he will eventually heal.”

“Hmmm…I’ll talk to Chris. Make sure he knows that in this his father better damn well follow the code.”

“Is there…something between you two?” Stiles asked.

“What Chris and me? Our paths have crossed in the past. I once pinned him to a concrete wall with a piece of iron rebar.” Peter chuckled. “Good times.”

Stiles and Derek gave each other a look but didn’t say anything.

“Anything else?”

“Devon gave me a list of contacts so I can start establishing a network. And next week he has someone coming to take a look at me and find out exactly what kind of spark I had before the bite.”

“Interesting.” Peter hummed. “Well now to my news. After a final meeting tomorrow I am all ready to hop on a plane and return to Beacon Hills.”

“You got everything packed already?” Derek sounded surprised.

“I hired a company after I went through and removed anything telling in nature. Did you know Laura had a knotted dildo under her bed?”

Derek shuddered and Stiles could smell vomit which he interpreted as disgust. “No. I did not.”

Peter chuckled. “Also found your collection of hand carved wooden animals. Did you do those?”

Derek nodded. “I find it soothing. Whittling. Laura left me at this old country store in Kentucky for a few days and the old men there sold me a knife and taught me how.” Derek smelled like warm honey. This was a fond memory apparently but Stiles noted that it started with the phrase ‘Laura left me at a store for a few days’.

“I packed them myself. Very carefully.”

“Thank you.”

“Also…a hummer Derek? Really?”

“I like hummers. You can go anywhere in them. They’re safe and they’re comfortable.” Derek defended his choice of vehicle.

“You have a hummer?” Stiles asked.

“A big blue one. It should be there tomorrow. I had it picked up from Maryland a couple of days ago and it’s on its way on the back of a truck. They’ll be dropping it off at Hale’s Auto lot. I didn’t know exactly what kind of vehicle it was until today when I got the invoice.” Peter sounded fondly exasperated. Stiles wondered if he smelt like honey too.

“Hey at least I don’t have to depend on Stiles’ Jeep to get us up to the house we’re gonna look at.”

“What’d you think of the cabin? A little small I thought from the website’s pictures.”

“It’s okay.” Derek said.

Stiles rolled his eyes. “It’s filthy, and literally everything in it needs replaced.”

Derek chuckled. “I’m letting Stiles field finding us a pack house. My point of view is a bit skewed. She did tell us about an apartment building for sale. Apparently the money ran short but they were being converted into loft apartments. Might be an interesting investment property.”

“Might.”

“We’re waiting for you to go see that one. For now we’re staying in a rental cabin by the lake. We have it for the month. There’s a bedroom for you.”

“You want to shoot me the address or pick me up from the airport?”

“We’ll pick you up. No need to deal with a rental.”

“Might go car shopping myself. I can’t be depending on you two for rides that’s for sure.”

“You can have Laura’s Camaro once my hummer’s here.”

“Hmmm…maybe. I always favored the Porsche myself.”

“Of course you did.”


	21. Chapter 21  - Meeting of Omegas and Alpha

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meeting Alpha Ito, Meeting a European trained Chris Argent, Meeting a bunch of teenage omegas and talking to them like adults. Being an omega has consequences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to @IdrissPukka who helped with Alpha Ito's dialogue here a lot.  
> Also rather than chop this up into 1k chapter I decided to post it all at once for the enjoyment of those in quarantine.  
> I'm not but my company has also said if you can work from home do so yeah.

The next afternoon Stiles was honestly surprised to see that everyone had shown up. Jackson and Lydia stood off to one side looking picture perfect but Stiles could smell their unease.

Erica, Boyd, and Isaac were there still wearing their leather jackets that he now knew Derek had gotten them in an effort to help them bond. He had talked about the shopping trip fondly smelling of honey the whole time until the end. The bonds hadn’t strengthened as much as he’d hoped and he’d started to despair as he ran out of ideas for non-touch related pack bonding

Scott was there and surprise, surprise he’d brought along Allison and Chris Argent. Stiles idly wondered what part of Chris’s body Peter had put an iron rod through and if the older man still had a scar.

Scott gave Stiles a head nod in greeting. Most of the rest of them ignored his entrance entirely. He guessed they were waiting on Derek which was oddly respectful of them really. He ignored Scott, not that the boy noticed as he focused back on Allison. Stiles found a perch off to the side on a table. He hopped up and sat on top crossing his long legs under him.

He saw Chris Argent looking at him curiously before he made a seemingly casual movement scratching the side of his face where a thick beard scruff was starting. It was also where Stiles had had a very prominent scrap before the turn. Stiles smirked at him and really really wished he knew how to flash his eyes but he’d practiced in the mirror this morning for a good ten minutes to no avail and Derek’s amusement.

Another glance around the room saw that Lydia was watching him. She too looked at his healed face and had probably been surprised by his lack of flailing when he’d climbed on top of the table. Honestly he was too. It’s not like he meant to be so clumsy but so far werewolf reflexes were helping a lot to keep him upright. She raised an eyebrow at him and he raised one back. She was probably about to question him when Derek walked in followed by Alpha Ito and Devon.

“Everyone, this is Alpha Ito and her Emissary Devon of the Redding Territory.” Derek seemed finished with the introductions and went over to lean against the table Stiles was sitting on. From this angle no one could see Stiles’ knee pressing into his back.

“Thank you Alpha Hale. I see what you mean. I have my work cut out for me.” She turned to Chris Argent with a regal tilt of her head. “Christopher. I’d like to say it is good to see you again but must say that I’d prefer the circumstances to be different.”

Unlike the teens in the room Chris had straightened and nodded his head to the entering Alpha. His daughter looked at him oddly. “Alpha Ito. I hope you are well.”

“I am. I would be better with the confirmation of Gerard Argent’s death. Alpha Hale told me the bond connected before he snapped it. Understandable. I know of no wolf that would tolerate a bond to such a despicable individual. However, a bond formed indicates that the bite took and despite the mountain ash he will eventually recover.”

From across the room Stiles realized he could smell Chris’ surprise. He glanced around and tilted his head trying to catch the chemo signals of the rest of the group. Allison smelled uncertain. Scott smelt like arousal as did Isaac. Erica smelt irritated. Boyd smelt guilty and but also of arousal. Jackson smelt sad mostly and was surprisingly the only teenage boy in the room who didn’t smell aroused. Lydia smelt worried and curious. Alpha Ito smelt serene like jasmine flowers which was the oddest thing given her voice and tone as she spoke to Chris Argent. Her husband smelt amused. Derek smelled dejected and Stiles gently rubbed his back with his knee.

“I was unaware. I had thought him in for a slow and fittingly agonizing death.” Chris sighed. “I will take care of it.”

“See that you do and that proof is provided to the Argent Matron in France. I spoke with her just last night and she is furious. If she does not have proof by midnight tonight I will know and with her blessing I will take action.”

“I understand.”

“Good. It’ll be nice to know that for once that psychotic beast followed the code.”

“Dad you’re not really thinking of killing Grandpa. Not when he might live!”

“Be silent Allison.”

“Dad-”

“I said be silent.” Chris turned to look at his horrified daughter.

She got a determined look on her face. “I’m the matron of the Argent family and I say-”

“You are not the matron of the Argent family. The matron of the Argent family is your Great Aunt Béatrice in France. We are a cadet branch of the family and as a family we will talk about this when we get home. Now be silent.”

The Argents held each other’s gaze for several seconds before Allison lowered hers. She grabbed her elbows in a little hug and looked embarrassed and chastised. Gerard may have given her delusions of grandeur to control her but in the face of her father’s ire she backed down.

Chris turned back around to face Alpha Ito and gave her a nod. “He will follow the code. I will ensure it.”

Allison sniffed and shot Derek a hate filled glare.

Stiles wondered what that was about and from so close could smell Derek’s confusion under his more prominent relief that Gerard would be taken care of. Stiles thought he must be putting out some pretty prominent relief scented chemo signals as well. Erica and Boyd certainly were.

Alpha Ito turned to face the rest of the teens. “These must be the wayward wolves. It is very good you've called me Derek. I can see why you would need help in bringing them to heel in a pack." She read their smells, their defiant body language with the ease of long practice. “You are all omegas. Unbonded wolves. Unprotected and unstable.”

Scott and Erica looked ready to argue but as Alpha Ito’s eyes glowed red they subsided. “Do you know what happens to omega werewolves? I know Omegas Erica, Boyd and Isaac were told they would slowly go insane by Alpha Hale. I know he told the same to Omega Scott and Omega Jackson. This is true. No matter how good your control, how confident you are in your anchor without the stabilizing influence of an alpha you will go insane. Do not think you are special. Do not think you will be the one to change the rules. Werewolves have existed for thousands of years and in those years many newly bitten wolves have thought they would be the exception and many of them have died mad and mindless on a hunter's blade. Let me assure you. It is not a matter of if it is a matter of when. Isn’t that right Christopher?”

Chris nodded in agreement. “According to the Code all omegas are given six months to find an alpha. If at the end of that six months you have not found a pack with an alpha a warrant will be put out to the hunter clans. You will be hunted down and if there is the slightest indication at that time that you may be turning feral you will be put down immediately.”

“And if you’re not going feral?” Scott asked. He didn’t look scared. He looked incredulous. As if he could not believe this would ever apply to him.

“You’ll be watched. Closely. A hunter will install themselves nearby and wait. Either you find an alpha or you find death at a hunter’s hands.” Chris stated dispassionately. “Right now with so many of you here in Beacon Hills if you don’t find yourself an alpha soon I will put you down before you can hurt anyone.”

Erica exploded in anger her gold eyes glowing and her claws extending. “What the hell? You save us from psycho grandpa’s torture chamber only to shoot us down six months later? What is this? _The Most Dangerous Game_?”

“I saved you and took you home. What Gerard did was wrong on multiple levels. You were two young werewolves under the protection of the local alpha who was training you with remarkable efficiency. You’d shown no signs of violence or loss of control and it was obvious your alpha was looking out for you. Literally no hunter who followed the code should have given you a moment’s notice but that was then.” Chris paused and gave each of Derek’s former betas a hard look. “Three days ago you snapped your bonds with Alpha Hale. The clock started then. You have three days less than six months to find an alpha. I’m guessing that’s what Alpha Ito is here for. Even though you broke his bond Derek is still trying to do right by you.”

“This is true.” Alpha Ito looked at Derek but the other alpha looked at the opposite wall.

Derek was expressionless and silent. Any wolves willing to use their noses would have smelt the pain of betrayal floating off of him. Unseen behind his back Stiles’ knee moved in a gentle rubbing motion. Stiles wanted to wrap himself around Derek’s back like a wolfy backpack but they’d agreed that seeing Derek with a new beta already might be triggering especially for Scott and they’d like to get through this ordeal without any unnecessary drama. However in this instance Derek didn’t need touch. For the first time since Laura’s death instead of anger Derek was able to reach for a pack bond. He pulled on Stiles. On his love and affection. It calmed him like no anchor he’d ever used before.

Alpha Ito continued. “Derek came to me yesterday and explained everything that has gone on in Beacon Hills for the last five months. He asked if I would come here today and offer you a place in my pack. My pack is based in Redding. We are twenty-six strong. We practice The Way. We are a peaceful pack. You are all welcome to come and visit and see if we may be the right fit for you. Of course for many of you there is also the option of returning to the Hale Pack.”

Derek then locked eyes with each of his former betas in turn. Isaac winced. Erica crossed her arms petulantly. Boyd met his eyes for a moment before lowering his gaze and smelling regretful. Jackson shifted his feet and lowered his eyes. Lydia met his gaze with a curious frown.

Chris shared a look with Alpha Ito. They’d done well so far. It was a bit impromptu but they played off each other well. Hopefully they could drive home to these teens just how foolish they were being. Chris didn’t want to kill any teenagers but he would if he had to. “Here is your status as it stands now. Omega Scott McCall.”

Scott stood up straight and looked at Chris respectfully in a way he hadn’t offered Alpha Ito. He hadn’t given Derek’s lack of a look at him a second thought.

“You have a little over a month to join a pack.”

“I have a good anchor.” Scott smiled at Allison who looked away uncomfortably. “I’m fine. You can watch me but I’m not going to do anything violent.”

Chris raised an eyebrow. “Maybe I’m not making myself clear. You have a little over a month to find an alpha and join a pack or I AM going to kill you.”

Scott looked shocked and betrayed.

“In the time that I’ve known you you’ve shown yourself to be violent, temperamental, and untrustworthy. All signs you’re going feral. It’s clear you’ve had no training despite Derek being right here and willing. The rule is six months but had that time passed given your actions in the last month alone you’d have been marked as a danger to yourself and others and you would have been put down. If I were you I’d accept Alpha Ito’s offer today. You won’t get a better one. Derek certainly won’t take you. Not if he has an ounce of self-respect.”

Chris turned from the stunned Scott. “As for the rest of you, you have a little less than 6 months. Jackson the clock was reset on you. The actions you took while a kamina were clearly not your own so the clock was reset at the time of your second bite.”

“As it is summer now I suggest you come to my pack house over the next several weeks. You can meet my pack and see if you would feel comfortable joining us.”

As Alpha Ito continued calling each omega over to talk to them individually Derek felt his back pocket buzz. He checked it and saw it was time to pick up his car.

He stood up and walked over to Alpha Ito as she was talking to Jackson. “Satomi. I have to go but I’d like to thank you once again for coming.”

“No problem at all Derek Sweetie. I want to see you sometime this week as well. We’ll talk alpha things. There’s lovely little tea shop over at the Turtle Bay Park. Perhaps we can find you something a bit more palatable.”

Derek blushed lightly. “That sounds nice. Give me a call and let me know when.”

“I will.”

Derek turned to look at Jackson. “I owe you an apology. If I’d followed up with you sooner even just to be with you when you rejected the bite…” Derek sighed. He knew his personal trauma from Paige had held him back from helping Jackson then. He’d been afraid he’d have to perform another mercy kill. “I’m sorry. You’re welcome to join my pack if you’d like. Alpha Ito will be training me as well to be a better alpha. That offer extends to Lydia as well as Erica, Boyd and Isaac.” Derek didn’t raise his voice. He assumed they must be listening. “You have options. Do what’s best for you.”

He gave Satomi a final small smile before walking out.

Scott yelled at him before he could go. “What about you?” He turned to Chris who he had been looking at smelling sad and betrayed. “What about him? He’s an omega now too isn’t he? After he was such a shit alpha that everybody left him. Don’t the hunters have a problem with that? The fact that he bit a bunch of teenagers and created all these omegas.”

Chris sighed. “No. We don’t. I’ve been watching and keeping track. Alpha Hale either approached or was sought out. He explained his offer in full, gave them time to consider, bit them and then dedicated himself to training them. All above board and according to the rules. That they broke pack bonds is on them. Jackson being an exception but literally no one expects a kamina.” Chris rolled his eyes. “And alphas by definition cannot be omegas. They can go rogue but I’ve seen his control tested firsthand. Besides that I imagine he rebound Peter. Which means he has a pack and even if he doesn’t right at this moment his bite has yet to fail. Not unexpected of a Hale Alpha. He can just make a new pack.” Chris didn’t mention Stiles. While it seemed obvious Derek had turned the young man they were keeping it quiet. Likely trying not to upset Scott and cause him to lose control. At this range Chris would rather not have to gut the young wolf. He liked this shirt.

“What about the fact that he killed Mom?!” Allison screamed.

Derek paused in the doorway turning around to look at Allison in shock. “I didn’t kill your mother.”

“You bit her!”

“On accident. In order to keep her from killing Scott. Didn’t he tell you that? The bond formed within an hour. I could feel her turning.” Derek explained. He knew Allison was mad because he’d bit her mother but he didn’t think she thought he’d killed her.

“Your mother followed the code Allison. She killed herself rather than turn but Derek didn’t kill her.” Chris reaffirmed. He winced. He hadn’t gotten along very well with his wife but holding her as she forced that mistletoe coated dagger into her heart wasn’t an easy thing for any man.

“She would have survived as a werewolf. I can’t say I would have kept her in my pack given the crimes the Argents have committed against my family and me but she would have lived. I didn’t kill your mother Allison.” Derek told her firmly before stepping outside.

He spotted Stiles leaning against the fence typing on his phone. He looked up as Derek started towards him showing he had been listening. Probably just trying to ignore it though. It couldn’t be exactly easy to just turn off ten years of friendship. Stiles was determined though. The more he thought about Scott’s actions the worse he felt. They agreed that Scott’s actions were his own. He could have asked either Stiles or Derek for help but he didn’t.

Stiles put his phone in his pocket.

“I got the email saying my car’s here. Wanna drive it to go pick up Peter?”

“Sure. Think it’s gonna piss him off?”

“Definitely.” Derek said with a smirk.

They took off running through the trees towards the car lot slowing down when they hit a more populated area. Stiles had been on the track and cross country teams for years but running like was effortless and he loved it. He loved being a werewolf.


	22. Gasing U[p, Flirting, and Discovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been told I excel at slice of life writing. Here. Have a heap.

Stiles geeked out over the enormous vehicle while Derek signed the forms releasing to him. Then he pulled the keys out and pressed the button letting Stiles inside.

Stiles paused just inside the vehicle taking in a deep breath. While a little stale the inside smelt like Derek. It was obvious to his nose that no one but Derek had ever been in this vehicle. He must have brought it new.

As the alpha climbed inside and started the vehicle Stiles started to poke around. He opened the glove box and was very surprised by what he found. “Is this? Is this a case full of wolfsbane?”

Derek nodded. “Blue eyes and I was living alone at college so at a glance I looked like an omega. You can never be too careful. I had a druid make me up an emergency kit.”

“Is nordic blue monkshood in here?”

“Kate’s preferred type? Yeah.” Derek nodded.

Stiles reached out to hold his hand as they got on the road towards Sacramento. “This stuff could have come in handy. Why didn’t you ask Deaton to make you another one?”

“I did.” Derek didn’t say anything else but Stiles assumed Deaton had been his typically unhelpful self again. Stiles hoped Devon sorted him out.

Stiles put the little wooden box filled with several individually labeled glass vials containing dried flowers and leaves back in the glove box. He continued to poke around.

Derek watched all this wondering if he should get upset or stop him but then started wondering if it was possible to stop the curious young werewolf and decided to let him be. He reached out and flipped on the CD player. Bryan Adams’ Please Forgive Me crooned out at a low enough volume that only werewolves could really hear it.

Stiles pulled his head out of the glovebox to stare at the radio for a second before turning to look at Derek. He blushed and gave him a smile before returning to flip through the insurance and registration papers tucked inside the vehicle’s owner’s manual.

He was right. The Hummer was last year’s model. He snorted. The H3 SUV 4WD 4dr Alpha. The insurance expired but the registration had been renewed in December. He made a mental note to get all this up to date on both of Derek’s vehicles. He was in good with the county clerk’s office. He could make this happen easy. He had noticed his need to do things for Derek. To make things easier for his alpha. Deal with the fiddly bits of life. He assumed it was a wolf thing… “Hey Alpha?”

“Yeah.”

“This need I have. The house searching. I’m gonna call the county clerk’s office and get your registration fixed on the cars. I’ll call and get your insurance renewed. Is this a pack instinct?”

Derek nodded. “It’s a caring instinct. In the old days it would be things like making sure the den was safe and dry. Nowadays it’s car registration and insurance. You find yourself doing little things to help your pack members. Like once I figured out what they liked I’d buy their favorite snacks at the grocery store. Always made sure they had their favorite things to eat after training.” Derek frowned another pack bonding that didn’t go as he thought it would. He still wasn’t sure what went wrong. Maybe Alpha Ito would know.

Stiles reached out and squeezed his bicep. He couldn't climb over the gear stick into his alpha’s lap while they were driving. He put everything back in the glovebox and started looking around for what else he could find. He unbuckled the harness and started to climb into the backseat.

Derek stopped him. “I’m pulling in for gas and road snacks. You can look then. There’s a cooler back there we can get some ice for.”

“A cooler?”

“For off-roading. I like to get up in remote places and camp for a while. A lot of my camping supplies are back there too.”

They pulled into Hale’s Pump n’ Go. Now that Stiles was looking the number of places that had Hale in the name in Beacon Hills was ridiculous. Once again the smaller shops that were run solely by the Hales had closed after the fire but the bigger organizations like the auto lot, the hardware store, the grocer, the realtor, and this gas station had stayed open among others.

Stiles fell out of the passenger side with surprising grace. He opened the back and looked over the neatly packed camping gear. Tent, sleeping bag, camp stove, and cooler. There were some other bags with what he assumed was a variety of other camping gear in them but he’d look those over another time. For now he pulled the cooler out and waited as Derek filled up the massive vehicle. “I bet this thing just drinks the gas.”

Derek nodded. “Not like I can’t afford it.”

“True. My jeep’s not much better.”

“That’s because it’s in such poor shape. Is it still at the warehouse?”

Stiles nodded sadly. “It wouldn’t even turn over.”

“You really love that thing huh?”

“It was my mom’s.”

Derek reached out and slipped a hand around Stiles’ shoulder and pulled him in for a hug. He kissed his temple. “I could have it restored.”

“No it’d cost too much.” Stiles said in a knee jerk refusal. It’s not like he hadn’t thought about it before or looked up how much that sort of thing would cost. The engine in the jeep was common enough for parts to be readily available but the rest of the body work would be a nightmare.

Derek chuckled. “Let me rephrase this. We can have the jeep restored or I can buy you a new car.”

“What? No.”

“Stiles.”

“Pack money. Right.” Stiles was quiet for a long moment. “I really love that old jeep. I have a lot of fond memories in it.”

“Then we’ll have it restored just like new.”

“Well…” Stiles blushed to his ear tips. “Maybe not just like new. It’d be nice if the radio was updated so I could play CDs or plug my phone into it.”

“You got it. We’ll look for a restoration place when we get back tonight. Be thinking about any other upgrades you want too.”

Stiles nodded against his shoulder. He swung the cooler by its handle gently against the back of his leg. The smell of the gasoline and oil was pungent and he buried his nose against his alpha’s neck. “Did you know that some women find the smell of gasoline arousing?”

“Really? Why?”

Stiles shrugged. “One of the compounds in gas is sweet smelling. I don’t remember which one. I used to like the smell too but it’s too strong now. Is there a way to dial down my sniffer?”

“Short of taking a safe form of diluted wolfsbane no. You do become adjusted to some smells and tastes over time that may be too intense for you now. Remember the garlic?”

Stiles nodded. The garlic from last night’s spaghetti had been super intense on his tongue at first but he’d been hungry enough to ignore it. After a couple of plates he was used to it and it just added to the flavor of the overall dish like it was supposed to. “I think garlic’s bad for dogs. Do we have those sorts of problems?”

Derek snorted. “We’re not canines Stiles.”

“We’re lupines. Wolves probably can’t eat chocolate or garlic either.”

“We’re also human most of the time and humans, as extreme omnivores, can eat anything. There are even some things we eat that we really shouldn’t but we digest them fast enough for it not to be a problem. Now as a werewolf with a healing ability you can eat even more things because you’ll heal. Like you could eat rat poison now and be fine.” Derek made a disgusted face.

“What’s with the face? Have you eaten rat poison before?”

Derek looked put upon. “In my defense I was three, it tasted awful, I drank way too much water to get the taste out of my mouth and then threw up anyway. It sucked. I don’t recommend it.”

Stiles tried not to laugh. “Gods. Was your mother even worried?”

“She wasn’t home. Peter freaked out for like 5 seconds thinking I’d gotten into wolfsbane or something but then I threw up the green pellets and a whole lot of water and I was fine. I cried a lot I remember and Peter let me sleep in his bed and read wolf friendly fairytales to me until I fell asleep. I don’t know if he ever told the rest of the pack. I certainly didn’t. Laura would have never stopped teasing me.”

The gas pump clicked having finally finished filling up the massive tank.

“Let’s go get some munchies.” Derek said putting the gas pump back on the hook.

“Yes! Favorite candy bar?” Stiles asked.

“Payday. Hands down.”

“Really.”

“Peanuts and caramel. How can you go wrong with that combo? You?”

“Red Vines.”

“That’s not a candy bar. Wait red or black?”

“Red duh.” Stiles grabbed three king sized paydays and opened the clean and empty cooler tossing them inside like it was a grocery basket. Derek handed him the biggest pack of red vines.

“Favorite chocolate candy?” Stiles asked.

“Twix.”

“You really love caramel.”

“Yup.”

“You kind of smell like caramel when you’re happy. Butterscotch, honey, caramel, those are what I smell when you’re feeling good.”

Derek smiled. “You too. What’s your favorite chocolate candy?”

“Three Musketeers but you’re not allowed to make fun of the way I eat it.”

“Okay?”

“I like to eat the hard milk chocolate off the outside before eating the soft chocolate nougat inside.” Stiles blushed.

Derek frowned imagining. “That sounds…”

“Weird.” Stiles sighed.

“Arousing. How do you do that? With your fingers or your mouth.” Derek stared at Stiles’ mouth.

Stiles blushed. “My mouth.”

“Oh I got to see that.” Derek grabbed three king sized three musketeers, three king size Twix, and three king size snickers and tossed them into the cooler. He wrapped an arm around Stiles and pulled him close to rub noses with him.

“Snickers?”

“For Peter.”

“Ah.” They moved over to the chips aisle. Stiles slipped his hand into Derek’s back pocket briefly. “Favorite chips?”

“Not the fondest.” He grabbed some pizza flavored Combos.

“Ewww…. You get no kisses if you eat those.” Stiles said grabbing some Bugles.

Derek laughed. “We’ll see.” He pulled Stiles in for a kiss. He glanced down at the Bugles. “Did you used to put those on your fingers and pretend you had claws?”

“What do you mean used to and doesn’t everyone? Everyone who doesn’t actually have claws.” Stiles laughed threading their fingers together as they headed over to the cold drinks. “Favorite soft drink?”

They answered together. “Mountain Dew.”

“Oh.” Derek moved down and opened the glass door grabbing several green glass bottles. “Real sugar Mountain Dew.” He explained. “So good. Trust me.”

Stiles laughed. “Okay. I trust you.”

Derek’s eyebrows softened his face as he looked at Stiles. They had a moment remembering that time in the pool when Derek had claimed a lack of trust. It wasn’t true then and it certainly wasn’t true now.

Stiles reached out tucking his fingers in Derek’s front pocket and pulling him in close for a long sweet kiss.

They parted and walked towards the front after Derek also grabbed a huge 3 gallon jug of water to keep in the car. Before they reached the register they were both distracted by an extremely appetizing smell that immediately caused their stomachs to rumble.

“Oh. I didn’t know they still made these.” Derek walked over to where several large stuffed buns sat on a warming plate. Bubbling red sauce and cheese spilled out of a few of them. They smelt heavily of pepperoni in the best way.

“What are they?”

“You’ve never had one?” Derek grabbed two paper plates and slid two of the buns on to each plate. “My Great Aunt Joan made these all the time. They keep all day if you keep them warm so she served them up here. They’re like pizza calzones. So so good. How have you never had one of these?”

“I try to eat healthy. For my dad you know? I’m fairly sure he’d have a heart attack just looking at that.” Stiles’ mouth was watering however. They did smell delicious.

“Oh yeah they’re totally horrible for humans. Thankfully we have werewolf metabolisms so all the fat and protein and carbs in these is super good for us.” Derek made sure via his superb hearing that no one was near enough to hear him talking about werewolves.

“If you say so.” Stiles grabbed a plate and continued up to the register. He recognized the girl behind the counter as a senior who’d just graduated. He smiled at her. “Hey Tammy.”

“Hey Stiles.” They were both distracted by a groaning Derek who hadn’t waited but had instead bitten into the pizza bun with relish.

Stiles blushed at the noises he made and wasn’t surprised to see Tammy blushing as well. She looked at him and grinned. “You lucky devil.”

Stiles chuckled. He was still trying to wrap his head around that. Being with Derek was easy but as other people looked at them it was really starting to sink in. “All this, a bag of ice, and the gas on pump 3.”

Tammy rang him up as they tried to ignore the quietly moaning Derek licking his lips. Both teens were red they were blushing so hard. It was obscene for someone who looked like Derek to stand there and moan like that. He was fully clothed but seriously. “That’ll be $89.”

“Derek?” Stiles questioned. He certainly didn’t have that kind of cash.

Derek tilted his hips with a nod.

With a glance at Tammy Stiles slipped his hand inside Derek’s back pocket and lifted out his wallet. He pulled out a hundred to give to her before slipping it back in Derek’s pocket.

The alpha werewolf had finished his first calzone and looked around for napkins for his fingers that were covered in red grease. Tammy handed him a handful with an amused smile.

Stiles reached over and grabbed a pack of wet ones near the counter. “We better take these with us too.”

Tammy rang those up as well taking it out of the $11 in change. When she tried to hand the money over Derek shook his head. “Keep it.”

“Uh.”

“How much do you make here? Is it enough?” He questioned.

“Uh. I make minimum wage. My mom is the manager. She makes a little more. Would you like a job?”

Derek frowned. “Hmmm…That’s no good. I’ll work on fixing that.”

“Okay?” Tammy was confused.

Stiles explained. “The last of the Hales, Derek here and his uncle Peter are moving back to Beacon Hills. So they’ll have a much stronger presence in the businesses.”

“What does that have to do with-“ Her eyes widened. “Wait. You’re the owner?”

Derek nodded from where he was cleaning his mouth. The second calzone was being eaten with a little more grace.

Stiles laughed. “We have to go but we’ll be in touch okay?”

“Okay.” Tammy muttered waving as they left. Just before the door closed Stiles heard her say. “Damn. Wish I could find a sugar daddy that looked like that.”

Stiles burst out laughing and turned to shoot her a wink even though there was no way he should have been able to hear her. As he did that he finally noticed the deputies sitting in the little booth inside the store drinking coffee and watching Stiles with amused smiles on their faces. Stiles paled abruptly. He gave them a little wave which they returned and then one of them gave him a thumbs up.

He relaxed slightly and headed over to where Derek was emptying the ice bag into the cooler with their drinks and putting everything in that back seat where he secured it with some cables. “Well if my dad didn’t know before he certainly knows now.”

“What?”

“About the dating thing not the other thing. Two of the deputies were getting coffee. Probably watching us be lovey the whole time.”

Derek glanced over into the store at the deputies who were still watching them were sitting. “Well. I mean if they had a problem they’d have stopped us by now.”

“Yeah one of them gave me a thumbs up. I am 18. It’s not like they can arrest you…again.”

Derek rolled his eyes. “I was cleared of all charges. Like five of them apologized for arresting me at all.” He closed the door and pulled Stiles close for another kiss. “Let’em watch. Let’em see how happy I make you.”

Stiles grinned wrapping his arms around Derek’s neck and pulling him in for another deeper kiss. “Yeah. Let’em watch.”

As they pulled away they weren’t listening but the deputies, two old men who remembered many members of the Hale family jointly agreed to say nothing to the Sheriff. Stiles might be one of the town’s favorite sons and six years ago Derek was the town’s favorite son and was quickly regaining the title. Let the boys be happy together was the general consensus being formed all over town. Don’t tell the Sheriff and let Derek and Stiles be happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whenever we go in to visit family my husband insists on stopping at this one gas station for Pizza rolls. They are decadent.


	23. Dreams Before Werewolves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life before werewolves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These next few chapters start to get away from ren't Sterek focused. More reactionary to what's happening.

It was silent in the car as the remaining American Argents drove home.

Allison looked down at her hands, twisting her fingers around and between each other.

Chris sighed. “Do you want to be a hunter?”

“What?”

“Do you want to be a hunter? You don’t have to be. I never wanted this life for you.”

“Then why did you train me?”

“In part because I am very aware of the things that go bump in the night and I wanted you to be prepared if you ever needed to defend yourself.”

“And the other part?”

“If I hadn’t trained you your Grandfather or God forbid your Aunt would have indoctrinated you into their sick twisted vendetta against everything other.”

Allison was quiet for a few minutes. “Why didn’t you want me to be a hunter?”

Chris was silent for several minutes. “It’s tradition in the Argent family that when you’re eight you are sent to France to be trained. We train our boys to be soldiers, our girls to be leaders.”

“Eight?!”

“Yup. I went to the family seat in France when I was eight years old and I remained there until I was eighteen. After I graduated for lack of a better term I hunted all over the world. Home base for me like many of my cousins was the family seat. I saw my mother fairly frequently. We had a wonderful relationship despite the distance.”

“And you and Grandpa?”

Chris sighed. “Your grandpa had an agenda. He was sick and tired of the matriarchy. Wanted to start his own branch of the Argent family trained to his own specifications. He and his brother Alexander were going to build their own family in America. My mother died when I was twenty-two. Taken out by a coven in Russia. Gerard remarried immediately and had Kate with a Calavera. With your mother’s aunt in fact. He had thirty years to make his case and with Kate he finally got permission to train her himself. I was pretty removed from it all, from him. I hadn’t seen him in more than a decade when one day about sixteen years ago I get a call about an arranged marriage.”

Allison looked confused and not a little shocked. “You…you and Mom. Your marriage was arranged?”

Chris nodded with a sigh. “My stepmother had died and Gerard needed more soldiers. He and my uncle were sterile by that time. Side effect of their mishandling of the types of herbs we use. Probably contributed to Gerard’s cancer too now that I think about it. So I came home and married Victoria despite…well…let’s just say we created you and that was that. The Argents being matriarchal having a daughter was all that was required. Gerard pressured us to have more but I refused. Over the next few years though I became aware that all was not what it seemed. Gerard, Alexander, and Kate wanted to start your training very early. I refused and surprisingly your mother agreed. In her family you receive training but don’t know for what until you’re fifteen. Hiding behind her traditions I managed to keep you from most of it. In France the hunting community is different. To the point where rather than starting so early they were giving children the choice. So sending you to France wasn’t even a choice to get you away from them. I am your father however and when you turned fifteen I made the decision that you were not going to be told…only for you to immediately start dating a werewolf.” Chris rolled his eyes.

Allison winced. “Scott’s a nice boy.”

“I’m sure he is.” Chris said dryly.

“Are you really going to kill him? Kill Grandpa? Because of what a werewolf said?”

“Alpha Ito is a highly respected leader in the supernatural community and I expect you to give her the respect she deserves the next time you’re in her presence.”

Allison looked away. She was a good girl. Getting chastised by her father was unusual and didn’t feel good at all. She looked down at her hands again. “Are you?”

“As soon as I drop you off at home I’ll be going to take care of Gerard.”

“Can I come? So I can say goodbye?”

Chris sighed. “Allison-“

“I didn’t get to say goodbye to Mom!”

Chris nodded adjusting his route accordingly. He sighed.

“What about Scott?”

“Hopefully Scott will pull his head out of his ass and accept Alpha Ito’s generous offer. If you really are his anchor I hope you’ll use your influence there.”

“Or you’ll kill him.” Allison said incredulously.

Chris was silent. “The laws are very clear.” He finally said.  


“What laws? Where are they written?”

“I’ll show you when we get home if you’re really serious about this. Do you want to be a hunter? Just to be clear if you say yes we’re moving to France as soon as there are no more omegas in Beacon Hills. I will gladly hand protection of this area back over to the Hale Pack. You’ll get trained properly with the laws created by our ancestors; not Gerard’s fucked up rhetoric.”

“I don’t want to move to France!”

“Then your answer is no. You don’t want to be a hunter?”

Allison looked at him with her mouth agape. “What? What would I be if not a hunter?”

“Exactly what you were six months ago. A bright, beautiful young girl with her whole life ahead of her. Go to school, make friends, fall in love, fall out of love, compete in archery tournaments, graduate, go to college. Major in botany or astronomy or physics or electrostatics.” Chris said naming various interests Allison had held over the years.

“What about being an astronaut? Being the first woman to fire an arrow in space? Studying electrostatic fields? You want to give all that up to be a hunter?” Chris pulled into the parking lot of the hospital. He turned to face his teary eyed daughter.

“This is not a nice life Allison. It’s hard and it’s bloody. You’ve never seen me without my shirt on specifically because I have no non-supernatural explanation for the number of scars all over my body. You think Derek’s a bad guy because he bit your mom in self-defense? Do you have any idea how many lives I’ve taken? How many your mother took? And I follow the code! You want to know if I will put a mistletoe loaded bullet in Scott McCall’s heart, cut him half, and burn the body? Yes. Because that’s what being a hunter means. Hard decisions. Taking a life to save others. Hunting those who hunt us. Do you want to be a hunter?”

Allison shook her head as her tears fell. “No.” She sobbed covering her face with her hands and letting her father pull her into his arms.

They both turned at a knock on the window to see a furious looking Melissa McCall.

Chris has a moment to hope she hadn’t heard him yelling when he opens the door and she goes to slap him. He catches her hand being gentle with her fragile wrist. “I guess you heard that.”

“Talk. Fast.” Melissa orders. She has a death stare only a mother can cultivate.

Chris glanced around but there’s no one else in the parking lot. “Hunter law states a werewolf has six months to find a pack. After that they’re monitored closely and if they put one foot out of line they’re killed. Scott has a month of that time left. He has no training and poor control. Earlier today Alpha Hale called a meeting with all the omegas and Alpha Ito. He’s arranged for her to take them in on a trial basis. If Scott doesn’t take this offer he’ll be deemed a danger-“

“And what? You’ll shoot him?!” Melissa crossed her arms to keep herself from trying to hit Chris again.

“If I have to.” Chris stated. “He’s dangerous.”

“He’s an innocent teen boy!”

“See the Hunter’s Council disagrees with you there. He’s an omega werewolf.”

“He didn’t choose to be a werewolf!”

“No he didn’t but he did choose not to join the local alpha’s pack. He chose not to get training. He chose to actively work against the local alpha to serve his own ends. Granted those ends were protecting you, his mother, an honorable cause, but as an omega werewolf he acted foolishly and dangerously putting the lives of many people at risk resulting in several deaths and violating the rights of others. If he’d bonded with the local alpha, joined a pack, or simply asked for help from the local werewolf pack this wouldn’t have happened. He’s got one shot.” Chris tilted his head down to look Melissa in the eyes. “He’s a headstrong teenage boy but Gods willing he’ll listen to his mother and his girlfriend. You and Allison have got to convince him to join Alpha Ito’s pack. It’s the only way. Because if he doesn’t if not me then another hunter will be lying in wait to take him out.”

Melissa took several deep breaths as she pursed her lips trying to keep her temper. “Tell me more about Alpha Ito.”

Chris nodded with a sigh. “I’ll meet you back at your house later. I have something to take care of inside.”

Allison started to get out of the car as well but stopped at Melissa’s next words.

“Forget to sign some paperwork? I thought you checked Gerard out AMA earlier today?”

Chris froze. “What?”

“Gerard Argent? He was checked out against medical advice earlier today. I thought you-“

“No. I was gonna let him rot but he has to be executed immediately for his crimes.”

“And they’re making you do it?” Melissa looked disbelieving. Who made a man execute his own father?

“Where is he?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t there when he was released. I went by to check on him earlier and was told he was gone.”

Chris stared at the hospital in horror. “Who could have done that?”

Melissa shrugged distracted. She was still reeling about the news her son could be killed if he didn’t join a pack. “Family. That’s why I thought you had done it.”

“Where would I find out?”

“It should be on his forms?”

“Can you help me?”

Melissa sighed. “Yes but you better tell me absolutely EVERYTHING I need to know after this.”

“Of course.”

Several minutes later Chris was staring at the AMA form in disbelief and horror. “It’s impossible.” The name was different but the handwriting was unmistakable. “Kate’s alive?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact show writers. Female love interests don't spring up from no where with no past and no dreams outside of their boyfriends.
> 
> Also is that a plot I see...? Where'd that come from?


	24. 21 questions and a pack of 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally Peter

Derek and Stiles played 21 questions all the way to the airport. Stiles kept track of how often he made Derek laugh. It might be his new mission in life.

They finally pulled up in the lane to pick up passengers. Peter was waiting outside with a couple of large suitcases and a small carry-on. His bright blue v-neck shirt matched his eyes and his tight jeans got him a lot of looks as he waited.

They exited to help him load the suitcases. Not that he needed it but Stiles’ fussing covered the uncle and nephew’s reunion.

“Alpha.”

“Peter.” Derek looked uncertain for half a second before he stepped forward to hug his uncle close. He leaned his head down and kissed the junction between Peter’s neck and shoulder before gently setting his blunt human teeth against the skin. With his mouth and eyes closed he let his fangs grow out and his eyes flare as his fangs pierced Peter’s skin.

The older wolf gasped in his arms at the quickly fading pain and the rush he felt as the pack bond formed. It was a gorgeous bond. Gold and silver and red and strong. As Derek pulled his mouth back showing the healed and licked clean skin they just held each other and rocked gently side to side.

When they heard Stiles close the back of the vehicle they finally pulled apart. If either man’s eyes were suspicious wet neither mentioned it. Stiles noted however that happy tears smelt different from sad tears.

“I can’t believe you drove this behemoth all the way down here to pick me up.” Peter groused as he climbed in the backseat.

“You have a lot more leg room in here than you’d have had in the Camaro.”

Peter paused when putting on his harness. Instead of seat belts Derek had the hummer outfitted with harnesses because of the off-roading he enjoyed. “I may not be at full strength but my nose still works. Do I smell Aunt Joan’s calzones?”

“Yup. Hale’s Pump N’ Go still sells them and still makes them with Great Aunt Joan’s recipe. I’d have gotten you one but it wouldn’t have kept for the trip.” Derek told him as he pulled out and headed for another gas station. It really wasn’t a great vehicle for long distances. He needed to fill up again before the return leg of the trip. It was ideal for the backroads around Beacon Hills though.

“I bet Tammy’s mom is the one that makes them. We could ask them for the recipe and make them ourselves.” Stiles said.

“Maybe once we get settled in the house.” Derek told him.

“When are we going to see the house?”

“I thought we’d go up there tomorrow. Linda gave me the keys. I mean technically it's held by Hale Reality.

Peter nodded as he poked around in the cooler and pulled out a Mountain Dew and a Snickers. He smiled softly to himself. Thoughtful boy.

“How’d the meeting with the omegas and Satomi go?”

“Well Chris was there. Scott told Allison who told her dad of course.” Stiles rolled his eyes.

“That actually kind of worked out though. Satomi and Chris knew each other and Satomi apparently called the Argent Matriarch in France and together the two women have basically ordered Chris to kill the old man immediately.”

“Allison got uppity about it. Claimed to be the matriarch herself but Chris shut her down hard. Said they’d talk about it when they got home.” Stiles chuckled and reached back for a red vine to chew on. The calzones were two hours ago. He hoped they were stopping for food soon. He was hungry again.

“Chris was oddly respectful of Alpha Ito. Like I thought he thought of us all as beasts but he was respectful to her.”

“You’ve never seen him around a proper alpha. It’s a clusterfuck here in America but Chris was trained in France where the packs and the hunters do work together to police the supernatural. You're still young yet so he probably treats you like the kid you are but Alpha Ito was the most respected alpha on the western seaboard after your mother. Of course Chris is going to be respectful of her. It doesn’t surprise me at all that Satomi has the Argent Matriarch’s ear either. She may be all about peace and The Way but don’t underestimate her. She didn’t get to be over a hundred by being a fool.”

The younger men nodded.

“Man you should have seen her lay into the omegas. Called them all foolish teenagers and wayward wolves.” Stiles grinned.

“Her and Chris started playing off of each other. Explaining how omegas had 6 months to find a pack and how long each of them had left.”

“Chris started kind of calling them all idiots too in the way he told Derek’s betas that they were completely safe under Derek. Like he didn’t straight out call them that but I don’t know maybe I was reading the room wrong but didn’t it seem like both Chris and Alpha Ito were trying to encourage everyone BUT Scott to rejoin you.”

Derek frowned. “It did kind of seem that way.” He paused for a long moment. “Chris seemed to think I’d done a good job training them but that can’t be right.”

Stiles shrugged. “I mean you were harsh but all your betas had much better control than Scott despite being turned later on. They all used their skills more. They were better than Scott in every way.”

“And you were policing them yourself. It’d be different if Chris had felt the need to step in but he wasn’t seeing any problems from your betas. The issues came from Jackson and Gerard.”

“Chris said literally no one expects a kanima.”

“They are rare.” Peter agreed.

Derek stopped at the gas station. “Stiles find us a steakhouse or something. I can hear your stomach rumbling. We’ll eat before we start the drive back.”

“Yes Alpha.” Stiles pulled out his phone. He had a missed message from Lydia. That was odd. Since when did Lydia contact him?  



	25. Lydia and a Touch Starved Peter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What does Lydia want?
> 
> Also lots of pack bonding cuddles and licks and reminded that Peter is touch starved af so be warned.

Lydia: “Jackson and the others will be spending the full moon in Redding with the Ito pack. I wanted to talk to you and Derek while they’re gone. When did you get turned by the way? The rest of them couldn’t tell but I know Chris knows.”

Stiles: “A few days ago. Gerard beat me nearly to death. I waited till the dust settled then called Derek and asked for the bite. I turned almost immediately.”

Lydia: You mean it wasn’t just your face?”

Stiles: “Nah. Some kind of internal bleeding from where he stomped on me.”

Lydia: “Wrecking the jeep into Jackson probably just made it worse. I’m sorry.”

Stiles paused. He didn’t really think he’d ever get an apology for that. It took a moment to process.

Stiles: “It’s okay. I healed.”

Stiles closed the messenger and pulled up the browser to search for steakhouses. In the backseat Peter had pulled out his own phone from his carry on and was presumably looking through his own messages and emails. Derek had gone inside to pay for the gas.

Lydia replied again.

Lydia: “When and where can we meet tomorrow? Jax and the others are going around ten.”

Stiles: “Let me talk to my alpha. We’ll let you know.”

Derek climbed back inside. “Find a place?”

“Yeah. Head down this road two miles and turn left. Lydia messaged me. Apparently Alpha Ito is taking the omegas to meet her pack. They’re going over at around ten tomorrow. Lydia wants to talk to us sometime after that.”

Derek was quiet as he drove following Stiles’ directions to the steakhouse. “Did she say what she wants to talk about?”

Stiles shook his head. “No. I can ask.”

“Yes please. I’d like to be up at the house by noon.”

Stiles’ fingers flew over the touch keyboard. “She says that’s fine. She wants to make sure the others can’t overhear…and that Peter is there?”

“Oh?” Peter asked as they got out in the parking lot of the restaurant. 

Stiles shrugged. “If I knew what went on in her mind I’d have figured out how to get her to date me by now.”

Derek growled.

Stiles laughed and tucked himself under Derek’s arm. “Ya know I’d figured I’d just about doomed myself to another hopeless crush with you Sourwolf.” As they got in line at the hostess stand Stiles tucked his nose behind Derek’s ear and breathed him in. “Still can’t believe you’re mine.” Stiles’ voice got a little throaty and he slammed his eyes shut as he was surprised to feel his teeth lengthen.

Derek squeezed him as he turned slightly to hug Stiles. “Shh puppy. I got you.”

Peter stepped forward as they cuddled. “Table for three please. Under Hale.” He said to the hostess with a charming smile.

Stiles tried not to whine. “You were right. As long as I was indulging in the little wolfy wants I was fine but we’ve been too busy today.” He tried to keep his lips closed around his growing teeth.

Peter returned with a buzzer that would tell them when their table was ready. “This will reach out to the parking lot. There’s a 45 minute wait. Let’s head back to the car and bliss him out.”

Derek nodded helping Stiles outside while the young wolf kept his eyes closed. Peter followed them. They moved the cooler into the front seat so they could crowd into the backseat with Stiles between them. He finally opened his eyes to take in his long pale claws. He leaned forward and caught sight of his golden eyes and longer teeth in the rearview mirror.

Derek pulled him back and Stiles was surprised to find Derek had pulled off his shirt. Peter’s hands came from behind pulling off his own. He dived forward to lick at his alpha’s collarbone. Alpha picked up his hand and started licking at his wrist while the beta behind him licked at his shoulder blade.

The next 40 minutes flew by as Stiles was thoroughly blissed out on affection. He’d thought once Peter joined them it wouldn’t be as bad. Instead it was worse because Peter added to the overall. The older werewolf got blissed out himself pretty quickly. His control was remarkable given he’d been an omega for six years but finally getting some much needed tactile affection was overwhelming. He probably wouldn’t admit to it later but as both Derek and Stiles pulled Peter into the middle the older wolf had whined and moaned and cried.

When the buzzer finally went off it was lucky the three werewolves didn’t crush it. It took a few minutes and some stumbling but they finally made it back into the restaurant where the hostess stared at them with wide eyes as she handed them off to their waitress.

Stiles didn’t realize why until they were seated and he noticed that Derek was wearing his shirt stretching out the sleeves as they tried to contain his biceps. Peter was wearing Derek’s shirt filling it out in ways Stiles couldn’t and Stiles had somehow ended up in Peter’s blue v-neck. He blushed furiously when a busboy caught his eye and stared open mouthed practically radiating lust as he stared at Stiles and ended up tripping and dropping a whole tub full of dirty dishes.

Stiles winced and looked at the older werewolves to find them laughing. He sighed and rolled his eyes so hard he tilted his head back and looked at the ceiling. The laughter was cut off and he realized it was because both of them were now staring at his elongated neck. He had no idea that the marks Derek had left stood out in sharp contrast on his pale skin.

Derek pulled him in to kiss him deeply and Stiles sighed into his mouth.

Peter cleared his throat breaking them apart but his eyes were laughing. Derek reached out and offered his hand to the other wolf. They held hands as Stiles opened the menu for both him and Derek. All three of them got the biggest steak on offer with three huge sides. Stiles didn’t think he’d ever put away so much food in his life but his new metabolism eagerly went to work digesting and when the waiter came back around he found room to order and devour a decadent dessert all by himself.

The more he ate and enjoyed the more Derek seemed to preen happily. Stiles guessed correctly that his alpha’s need to provide was being satisfied. It was crazy to think anyone would want to leave this. Stiles had a moment to be sad for the others. Satomi’s pack was huge. They would never get the kind of one on one alpha attention Derek was dishing out freely.

“What’s wrong Pup?” Peter asked.

Stiles looked at the older wolf and then up at Derek. He turned the lick into a kiss to the alpha’s jaw just in time. “I guess I just feel sorry for the others. Alpha Ito’s pack is huge. They probably won’t get this kind of individual alpha attention.”

Derek blushed but bent his head to rasp his beard scruff against Stiles’ still short hair.

Peter chuckled as he pulled out his wallet and paid the bill. He gave the waitress a whole extra hundred dollars with a wink. “Let’s get home. I want a bed and you two in it.”

“Sounds good.” Derek stood and pulled Stiles’ sleepy form up as well.


	26. Hunter and Mother Know Best

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mama lays down the law...as soon as she learns it

Melissa unlocked her front door and walked in to see Scott sprawled out on the couch with Isaac. There was an empty bowl on the coffee table with a few kernels of popcorn left. They were watching ESPN dressed down in their pajamas. For once Isaac wasn’t wearing a scarf but he had wiggled into an old hoodie of Scott’s. It was too small but the boy liked to be covered up Melissa had noticed. She still wasn’t sure how she had ended up with the boy to be honest. She knew his father had been killed by the lizard whatever thing but surely he had other relatives to go to. Shouldn’t CPS be wondering where he was? She hadn’t dared call them herself unsure how to handle the whole werewolf angle. Perhaps Chris Argent would know and if not perhaps this Alpha Ito would be able to help.

“You might want to clean up and get dressed. We have company coming.” She told them tiredly. Honestly after a double shift all she wanted was a hot bath and to maybe con her son into rubbing her feet while they watched a movie before bed. She could maybe manage the bath. Apparently Chris was going home first to retrieve some kind of supernatural law book and to let the Hunter’s Council and the local alphas know about Gerard and Kate.

“Tomorrow? Who?” Scott asked.

“No, tonight. The Argents. We’re all gonna sit down and have a little chat about this 6 month omega law and Alpha Ito’s offer.” Melissa dropped her purse and keys off in their usual places. “I’m gonna take a quick bath. Please make sure the living room is clean.”

“Yes Mrs. McCall.” Isaac said as he hopped up and grabbed the empty bowl hurrying into the kitchen. The boy was eager to please she’d give him that. Probably just scared of being sent away honestly.

“Want me to make you something to eat Mom?” Scott offered with an endearing look.

“Yes please.” She watched as he grabbed the empty soda cans and followed Isaac into the kitchen. Wouldn’t know to look at him that he’d been handed a death sentence earlier today.

* * *

“Hi Allison!” Scott chirped as he opened the door. “Mr. Argent.” He said a bit more subdued.

He escorted them into the living room where Isaac nervously climbed to his feet.

Melissa came in from the kitchen. “Can I get you anything to drink?”

“No thank you.” Allison demurred.

Chris shook his head as he stood behind the chair his daughter had taken.

Melissa sat down on the couch next to Scott while Isaac, after offering it to Chris, sat down in the remaining chair.

Melissa took a deep breath. “Okay. Omega werewolves. Tell me everything.”

Scott started to speak but his mother raised her hand to stop him her eyes never leaving Chris.

He laid the large heavy book on the freshly wiped down coffee table. “Omega werewolves are defined by their lack of a pack. They’re fairly rare. Born wolves like Derek Hale have pack bonds from the moment they’re born. Bitten wolves are bonded to the alpha that bites them. Either the omega or the alpha can break the pack bond. Once again this is rare as it’s usually quite painful. Akin to losing a limb I’ve been told.” Chris raised an eyebrow at Isaac who looked away but Chris’ sharp eyes caught a fine tremble.

“In werewolves pack is the most important thing in the world. It’s your family, your safe place, your anchor, and frequently the basis of your control. To reject all that immediately throws up red flags. Now in Scott’s case his alpha was feral and insane. It’s no surprise that you rejected Peter Hale’s bond.”

Scott nodded.

“As for Isaac?” Chris looked at him questioning.

Isaac shrugged. “He was super harsh on us. And controlling. He wanted to know where we were all the time. Who we were with? What we were doing? We had to come see him every day for training which was mostly just him throwing us around as we tried to work together to take him down or we’d have to listen to long boring lectures about lore and history and anchors and secrecy and herbs and hunters and just so much stuff it was like being in school. He even started talking about making us write papers and shit. And then when like bad stuff does happen and he’s supposed to protect us what happens? Jackson knocks out Erica and Allison stabs and shoots us full of arrows and Erica and Boyd were kidnapped and tortured in your basement. And where was he? Huh?”

Chris brought his hand up to cover his mouth and hide his smile. He glanced at Melissa surprised to see her glaring at him. What? Oh. Tortured in HIS basement. He shook his head. “So let me get straight. Your alpha, who lost almost his entire family and pack to a fire started by hunters a few years ago and the last of his family and pack a few months ago to a monster built a new pack and knowing a hunter family was in the area showed a great deal of concern about your whereabouts and who you were interacting with knowing that a hunter infiltrating the teenage members of his pack was what led to their destruction…so he acted almost exactly like a concerned parent would knowing that there was a murderer in the area.”

Isaac seemed a little wrong footed for a second. “Uh well-.”

“Did he give you a curfew?”

Isaac looked down. “Yeah. Sort of. We had to check in with him at a certain time each night.”

“Any of that sound unusual to you Mrs. McCall?”

She shook her head. “That part doesn’t. Being teenagers I can see why you wouldn’t see it that way but honestly it just sounds like he was concerned. I’d say overly concerned if he was a normal parent but like you said with a hunter in the area it is understandable he’d be overprotective.”

“Erica said it was like he was an abusive boyfriend. So controlling about everything.” Isaac tried to defend himself.

“That’s because a boyfriend doesn’t have a right to dictate your every action but a parent does to a certain extent.” Melissa squeezed Scott’s hand.

“Did Derek tell you you’d be his responsibility? That he’d have limited control of you?” Chris prompted Isaac again.

Isaac remembered Derek shadowed in the graveyard as he begged him for the bite. “He said…’You’ll have to listen to me. I’ll be in charge of you from now on.’” Isaac tried to mimic Derek’s gruff tones. “’The bite might not take. It could kill you instead. There are people that hunt my kind. Control will be difficult at first but I’ll help you…’” Isaac trailed off remembering the rest as he repeated in his own voice sadly. “’We’ll be pack. Family. I’ll protect you.’”

Chris nodded. “As to the rest I bet things were pretty good aside from long boring lectures and a hypervigilant alpha. He was trying his best to get you up to speed as quickly as possible. Doing a good job of it too from what I was able to tell. Then Matt started using Jackson to kill people.”

“Well. I mean hanging out around the railway station sucked too but yeah.”

“I’m fairly sure Derek was busy trying to figure out who the kamina was. I was too by the way. You kids could have just come to me for help. I understand why Derek wouldn’t. My sister did rape and murder him and his family but I would have thought Allison and Scott would have. Or he was fighting the kamina or hunters. Meaning he was protecting you only he wasn’t enough on his own. What were you expecting? Superman?”

“Why are you on his side?” Scott suddenly yelled.

“I’m a hunter. I’m not on any werewolf’s side. I’m just trying to understand why three newly turned betas decided to leave their alpha.” He turned back to Isaac. “Did he rape you? Beat you until you couldn’t walk? Lock you up? Torture you?”

“He broke my arm once.”

“In anger?”

“N-no.”

“Why?”

“To trigger my healing.”

“Did it work?”

“Well…yeah.”

“I’ve seen mama wolves snap their children’s toes in order to force heal a broken leg. There are other ways but it’s probably just the way he was raised.”

“Are you justifying Derek breaking his arm?” Melissa asked in a horrified voice.

Chris sighed. “He’s a werewolf. A born one at that. He has instincts you wouldn’t believe and he was raised in a way that is probably utterly foreign to us. We were all born and raised human. First and foremost we think like humans. Derek doesn’t. I’m not justifying what he did, I'm saying in his mind it was as normal as applying a bandage. Did Derek ever hurt himself to trigger his healing?”

Isaac looked away. “Yeah. Boyd crushed his leg once. He had us pull it straight then bit his arm to the bone…it took a while…any time the healing started to slow he’d bite himself or snap one of his fingers.” Isaac chuckled. “We really got him good that time. He told us what a good job we did then took us all out for pizza. He ate like three meat lovers by himself…oh.” Isaac frowned in sudden realization of the memory. How Derek had lectured them on pain and ways to kick start healing. About inducing the adrenaline rush needed to hurry it along. How he’d talked about it like it was nothing because to him it was.

“So what I’m hearing is you three took rebelling against your parent way too far…how much did it hurt when you snapped the pack bond?”

Isaac wrapped his arms around himself tightly. He glanced at Allison. “Worse than being stabbed.”

Chris nodded. “I’m fairly sure Derek would take you back if you asked but if you want my advice I’d spend some time with Alpha Ito’s pack as well. Get some perspective.”

Isaac nodded.

Chris turned back to the McCalls. “As for Scott if I were you I’d crawl on my belly all the way to Redding and beg Alpha Ito to bind me immediately.”

Scott rolled his eyes and sighed. “Why do I need a pack? My control is fine. I have a good anchor. I don’t want to have to bow to some old lady just because she has red eyes.”

Chris sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Like Alpha Ito said. Werewolves need packs. Omega werewolves, no matter how good their control or anchor, always go insane in the end. Those who study supernatural sparks say werewolf sparks are erratic on their own. Alpha and Beta sparks need each other to stay in control.”

“Like in chemistry.” Allison looked startled to suddenly have the room’s attention. “Uh…like protons and electrons. The Alpha is like the nucleus of an atom. He has a positive charge and he needs the negatively charged electrons or betas to be stable. Omegas are like free electrons. Out of control and constantly seeking another atom to join in order to achieve stasis.”

Chris nodded with a smile. “That’s a very good analogy Ally. I hadn’t thought of it like that.”

“What happens when an atom runs out of electrons?” Isaac asked.

“Uh…I’m not sure…" Allison winced suddenly feeling much less clever.

“Or in this case out of control feral alpha werewolf.”

“Right. So why aren’t you hunting Derek right now?” Scott retorted.

Chris gave Scott a somewhat confused look. That was the second time Scott had suggested Derek should be the one hunted down. Was he trying to divert attention from himself or did he have some kind of vendetta against Derek? “Well first Derek is given the same 6 months an omega would be given to gain another pack mate either by biting or binding and second Derek may have lost Isaac, Erica, and Boyd but he still has Peter and I have it on good authority he’s turned someone else. He’s fine.”

“Who? And why are you just okay with that?! Him biting people and making more werewolves. I thought you hated werewolves.”

Chris raised an eyebrow at Scott. He thought about continuing to argue the point but thought they’d gotten off topic enough for one evening. “It doesn’t matter. Derek’s not on our radar at all. You, however, are.”

“Why? I worked with Gerard. With the hunters. Doesn’t that make me exempt?”

“No. Gerard was a crazed psychopath and you were threatened and coerced. Bit of advice when you do talk to the werewolves in the Ito pack, make sure you emphasize that part if it comes up at all.”

“I’m not going. I don’t want to join a pack.” Scott declared.

“Yes you are.” Melissa said grabbing his arm and squeezing. “I am not burying you.”

“Moooom.”

“No. This is your new reality and you’re just going to have to get used to it. Like developing asthma. There’s nothing you can do about you just have to treat the symptoms. Well, being a werewolf means being in a pack. This conversation has made that very clear. Chris is going to tell us more about Alpha Ito and WE are going to see her and hopefully she’ll bind you and if not we’ll meet another alpha and another until someone takes you on. I’m not losing you Scottie. I’m not.”

In the face of his mother’s sour scent of worry and concern Scott relented. “Ok Mom.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Issac's guardianship status is so handedwaved and weird in the show. Here I'm timing like his dad was killed near enough to the end of the school year that Issac just disappeared. He lived with Derek and now Scott. CPS is very much looking for him because he's still a minor. Given the evidence found in the Lahey's home they think he's a runaway. Issac's on a list of missing people somewhere right now and he knows it. Scott's not thinking of that and Melissa's busy so Issac's just crashing at their house this summer slowly going nuts wondering what he's gonna do come fall when he has to go back to school and then someone's gonna come get him.


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A wild Lydia appears and is subsequently unimpressed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for casual nudity and shared baths

Chapter 27

Stiles woke in the morning the same way he had every morning since he’d been turned. Licking Derek’s skin. This morning he was licking Derek’s pectoral. He thought the nipple just below his chin looked a little lonely and so he moved down just a bit to lap at it. Only a few seconds of this was tolerated before his alpha had flipped him over and proceeded to give his entire squirming ticklish belly a tongue bath.

Stiles put up a token resistance but when Peter took over holding his arms he relaxed into the tongue bath choosing instead to lean over and lick at the older wolf’s chest.

Unfortunately the cabin didn’t have a big enough tub for all three of them. Stiles reluctantly gave up his alpha bath to Peter who needed it more in his opinion. He went to dish up a carton of eggs and a couple of packs of bacon and a few loaves of toast.

In the bathroom Peter leaned into Derek with a whimper as he started to shampoo his hair. He squeezed Derek’s knees as he tried to maintain control and not claw up the bathroom wall. “It’s been too long since we did this Pup.”

“You mean before the fire.”

“Yeah.” Peter huffed. “Got to be a teenager and all embarrassed about popping a boner while bathing with your uncle and your old man.”

Derek rolled his eyes. “It was embarrassing.” He reached for the soap and started delicately washing Peter’s face before rinsing it and then moving down to his neck and shoulders. He paused as he pulled Peter out of the water to tentatively and then with Peter’s encouragement lathed his entire neck tiring and failing to erase the memory of ripping him open. “I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t have a choice Pup. I wanted you to do it. Better you than McCall. I was...too far gone.”

Once clean both wolves simply laid in the bath for a while breathing in each other until Stiles called out that bre4akfast was ready.

He may have missed his alpha bath but Derek made sure to keep him in his naked lap all through breakfast while Peter teased them for not having had sex yet.

“Hey! I learned I was bi literally the first time I laid eyes on this guy five months ago. Forgive me for not being an expert in gay sex quite yet.”

“We’re taking it slow Peter. Back off. If you’re that eager maybe you should go comfort Chris. He did just lose his wife and father you know.” Derek said sarcastically but was surprised to find an interested look come over Peter’s face.

“It has been a hot minute since I broke that tight ass in.”

“You’re kidding me. You said you once impaled him with an iron bar. Was that a metaphor for something?” Stiles asks, waving the piece of toast in his hand at Peter.

Peter chuckled. “Ah Pup we were young then. There’s a thin line between love and hate. Which you should know.” He gave them a knowing look. “That was the first time we met. We fought with words the second time we met although looking back on it now it seems more like foreplay. The third time we met we ended up locked in a hotel room for three straight days.” Peter had a fond look on his face and smelt like spicy honey. “Poor Chris could barely walk. I had to drain the pain from him the whole way back to the Argent Family Seat. Thank goodness hunters don’t have our noses. The Matriarch would have cut off my balls if she’d known what her precious nephew was up to all weekend.”

Stiles took a moment to imagine a young Chris and Peter going at it hot and heavy for days on end. Hell a current Peter and Chris going at it wasn’t a bad mental picture either. Derek smoothed a hand up over his thigh and cupped him. Stiles blushed. “What? It’s a pretty hot mental picture.”

“I’m not saying it isn’t.” Derek told him with a smile as he gave him a squeeze.

“This is a pretty sweet picture if you ask me.” Peter said watching them. He didn’t quite smell aroused though. He looked at them both with a great deal of fondness though.

Derek tilted Stiles’ head back and started alternately kissing and licking into his mouth. As Stiles was only barely wearing boxer shorts after his own very quick shower Derek’s hands had a lot of bare skin to stroke. Derek and Peter hadn’t bothered to get dressed yet at all and Stiles exulted in being skin to skin with his alpha, with Derek.

Of course that’s when there was a knock at the door.

Stiles groaned. “What is this? Peter the cock blocker comes home and someone else has to take up the post?”

Peter chuckled and went to answer the door.

Stiles yelled at him. “Peter! Clothes!”

Peter rolled his eyes. “It’s Lydia. Last time she saw me my corpse was blackened and burnt. You’d think seeing my perfect form now would be a relief to her memory.”

“It really wouldn’t be.” Lydia replied. That close to the door even she could hear Peter.

“Lie. Darling you forget I can hear when you lie.” He opened the door.

Lydia took a long slow look at the taunt golden skin, the smooth muscles, the unaltered state of him. From the top of his head to his feet and everything in between she took a long leisurely look then she sniffed and walked into the house with a roll of her eyes. If they could hear her heart and smell her arousal there was very little point in hiding it but she wasn’t about to melt into a puddle of lust either.

She came up short at the barely clad Stiles protecting Derek’s own lack of modesty only by virtue of being sprawled across his lap. She was more curious this time as she tilted her head. “Did the change do that or were you always that fit?”

“His fashion sense is atrocious darling. You might have taken him under your wing. Look how pretty he is. Something form fitting. Not so much layering. Think of what a picture it would have made to be bracketed by him and Jackson.” Peter told her with an indifferent air as he took Stiles’ lean form in with the same appraising eyes Lydia was. 

Stiles was trying not to blush and failing as he squirmed on Derek’s lap but the Alpha wrapped his arms around him and growled in his ear to keep him still.

“A different haircut. Something longer I think.” Lydia mused out loud as she tapped her finger against her lip. “Jax is bi and honestly pinning after Stiles a bit I think. The threesome might have been fun you’re right. Oh well.” She dismissed the possibility even if red alpha eyes weren’t steadily glowing at her from over Stiles’ shoulder. She turned to face Peter. “What am I?”

“One of the most beautiful, intelligent, and fiercest women I’ve ever met.”

“Thank you but you know what I meant.”

Peter smiled. “Your grandmother was Lorraine Martin. She was a banshee. I took a chance that she handed down the power and I was right.”

“A banshee?”

“That’s right.”

Lydia thought for a second before sighing. “And I suppose you have some information you might be willing to give me if I join your pack?” She turned to Derek when she asked that.

Derek nodded with a smile. “The Hale library is extensive and between Peter and I we should be able to get every bit of information available.”

“Including your grandmother’s diaries. She entrusted them to the Hale Pack before she checked herself into Eichen House. They were digitized and the backup is in one of the Hale Vaults along with the originals.”

“Those should be mine anyway. They were supposed to come to me in her will but no one could find them.” Lydia turned to Peter angrily.

Peter sighed. “Remember darling by the time your grandmother died the Hale Pack was no more. I was comatose and Laura and Derek were on the run. I only know about them because I was the one sent to retrieve them from her house. She had a soft spot for me.”

Lydia sighed. She’d like to be mad but she was too smart for that. “Jackson is going with them just to hedge his bets but he has serious doubts he’ll be able to follow Alpha Ito’s peaceful ways. That and apologizing like you did helped a great deal. I want my grandmother’s diaries regardless but if Jackson joins your pack so will I.”

Derek nodded gently. “We don’t have time to retrieve them right now but we will make every effort to get your inheritance to you before the next moon.”

Lydia nodded gratefully. “Thank you Alpha Hale.” She looked around curiously. “This is certainly nicer than the old house or the railway station but I assume it’s temporary?”

“It is. Would you like some breakfast?” Derek motioned to the leftover eggs and toast. Still somewhat full from last night Stiles had made assumptions and made way too much. He surprised himself by how much he put away but Derek and Peter had eaten less than expected.

Lydia nodded and sat herself down in the spare fourth chair. Peter pulled it out for her and tucked her back under the table like the gentleman he was before reclaiming his own chair. As she fixed herself a plate she asked “So what’s the plan?”

“For housing or for the pack?” Stiles was slowly getting over the fact that he was practically naked in the lap of his boyfriend and alpha who were naked and sitting at the table with his long time crush eating breakfast. He gave himself a hard pinch but no this wasn’t some bizarre dream. If it was a dream Lydia would probably be naked as well. Derek picked up the pinched wrist and gave it a lick and a kiss.

“Housing.”

“We’re going out to the old Carson place today to look it over. The power has been turned on for us.”

“Are you thinking of buying it?”

“Maybe. It really looks like it has everything we need. Need to get the road fixed so internet can be run but other than that.” Stiles shrugged.

“You might get a satellite instead.”

“We’re also considering that avenue. The old house had a satellite.” Derek told her.

Derek reached for his coffee cup with a smug smile. He kissed Stiles’ backbone before he took a drink. He kind of loved the way Stiles took charge.

Lydia considered for a moment. “My parents are getting a divorce.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Peter told her with some genuine concern.

“I’m not but they are fighting a lot. I told them I was going to stay at Grandmother’s lake house for the summer. Would it be dangerous for me to come to the old Carson place with you?”

“Between the two of us helping Stiles keep control I doubt there will be any issues.”

Stiles rolled his eyes. “I’m beginning to think there’s something wrong with me. Everyone else was all ‘grr grr fang claw slash’ I’m all ‘Mmmm happiness is a warm alpha and lots of skin to lick. Beware my puppy tongue of doom.’”

Derek chuckled. “Your experiences are with Scott the omega and my former betas during a fight. How often do Peter and I pop out our claws and fangs other than when we’re being deliberately intimidating?”

“It’s very common for puppies and other young werewolves to vent their wolfie urges in perfectly harmless fashions like running around, play fighting, or cuddling and licking. Derek here or DerekSweetieBaby as we typically called him was a cuddlewolf extraordinaire. He was eight before he ever had a wolfy outburst. Oh we knew he was a wolf but he never popped fang or claw until Cora stole his favorite stuffed rabbit and ripped it up. Then he popped fangs and claws and straight up roared at her. Luckily Jimmy caught him before he could hurt her.”

“She was always a brat.” Derek muttered. That was what he said but he smelled sad and Stiles wiggled around sideways in his lap until he could nip Derek’s jaw and get a kiss on the nose in return.

“Your sisters make me glad I’m an only child.” Stiles muttered.

“Ditto.” Lydia said.

“Cora was a brat. It’s odd. Derek was…is such a sweetheart but his sisters were both little hellions. Talia used to wonder what happened. Personally I think it was my influence. I took Derek under my wing almost from his birth. First boy and Frank and I doted on him.”

“Frank?” Lydia asked.

“My dad. It’s true. I didn’t see Mom often. She was too busy building alliances and advising others. I think until I was like four I thought she was another aunt and Peter and Dad were my parents.”

Peter started laughing. “Oh I remember that. She came into the library to talk to me about something, saw you playing with your bunny book and knelt down to talk to you about it and you called her Auntie Alpha. You could have knocked her over with a feather. She practically carried you around in a sling for the next month.”

Derek nodded. “Yeah then she found out she was pregnant with Cora and handed me back to you and Dad.”

“If you were smart you could have milked that. Called her Auntie Alpha whenever you wanted something.” Lydia suggested.

Derek shook his head. “She smelt horrible when I called her that. It would have been kinder to stab her.”

“Awww you are sweetheart.” Stiles laughed.

Derek gave him a growly red-eyed glare but Stiles could smell that he was really amused.

“Oh no. I’m so sorry Alpha. You are not a sweetheart. You’re a big bad alpha. I’m so scared. Don’t hurt me.” Stiles shivered against him before falling against his chest and laughing.

Lydia frowned. “Why do Scott and Allison think you’re this evil abusive asshole? Erica and Isaac said some bad things about you to Alpha Ito after you were out of earshot too. Which she was not happy about and immediately shut them down.”

Derek sighed. “My anchor was anger. In a pack I should have been able to pull on my pack bonds but for some reason the pack bonds just weren’t getting any stronger so I’d get angry at them which made the pack bonds weaker. It was a vicious cycle.”

“Was?”

Derek squeezed Stiles. “I have a good pack now. Honestly I’m not sure I want any of them back. I’m pretty happy with just Stiles and Peter.” He sighed. “Still Beacon Hills is a large territory.”

“It is but there’s nothing that says you have to have a large pack right off the bat nephew. Get your feet under you first. Let Alpha Ito teach you what you need to know. Let me teach you to fight as well as your father could. Teach Stiles to fight like me so you can be true partners like Frank and I were.” Peter leaned back from the table. “Besides once word gets out that a Hale Alpha is back in Beacon Hills you’ll have omegas making their way here. Adult wolves with their own skills. Not teenagers. That’s half your problem right there.”

“Hey.” Stiles and Lydia said.

“You two don’t count. You’re only teenagers due to your hormones but you’re smart enough to overcome some of the stupidity of your kind. I hope. Don’t disappoint me now.”

“I thought if I bit those close to me in age we’d get along better.” Derek explained again before sighing. To say it hadn’t worked out was an understatement.

“How old are you?” Lydia asked. She was genuinely curious and smelled it.

“Nineteen.”

Lydia looked shocked. “I…would not have guessed that. Mid-twenties maybe…but then…if the fire was 6 years ago and Allison’s aunt seduced you…” Lydia’s eyes’ widened and she covered her mouth with one hand. She smelt shocked and disgusted. She looked over at Peter. “You should have made her suffer more.”

“That was the plan before they came in with your molotov cocktails.” Peter told her sardonically.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As stated staying with the original age of Derek in Season 1 being 19 meaning Kate abused him when he was only 13


	28. Pack House?

“Dude this is AWESOME!” Stiles kept hold of the bar above his head as Derek took them up the trail to the old Carson place.

Peter and Lydia in the backseat didn’t seem to share Derek and Stiles’ enthusiasm for off-roading.

“The first thing I’m going to do when we get back is order the road fixed. This is ridiculous.” Peter groused.

“Awww…” Stiles complained.

Derek chuckled quietly. “He has a point Stiles. We can go off-roading other places but I’d hate to bring groceries up here. You’d end up with milkshakes and scrambled eggs before you got home.”

“Yeah. Okay. Good point.”

“We’ll go off-roading somewhere after housing and everything is settled. Okay Puppy?”

Stiles turned to him all bright eyes and wide sweet smile. “Okay Alpha.”

In the backseat Lydia and Peter looked at each other. Peter suggested in a droll voice. “Lydia and I will instead head to the nearest large city and scroll around doing some window shopping and maybe visit a museum or a fine dining establishment.”

Lydia gave him a small satisfied smile.

Stiles flung back his head and laughed. “There are two kinds of sugar daddies in the world.”

Lydia raised an eyebrow in sudden realization. “Oh my goddess. That’s what this is like isn’t it? Alphas are just like Daddy Dominants. Or Mommy Dominants in Alpha Ito’s case I guess.”

Peter tilted his head side to side while twisting his lips a bit. “It can go that way. In a pack as small as ours definitely and Derek is…particularly suited to that style of alphahood I think. Alpha Ito runs her pack more like the Head Abbess of a Buddhist Temple. Talia ran our pack like a business while Frank, as Alpha mate, was much more Daddy Dom in how he ran the day to day operations. Like I said Derek’s young yet. Still finding his stride as Alpha but Lydia has a point. Reading up on some Daddy Dom techniques might not be a bad idea.”

Stiles watched Derek frown. If he hadn’t been able to smell Derek’s curiosity he’d have thought Derek completely hated the idea. Then he wondered if Derek even knew what they were talking about. He was pretty unexperienced sexually after all. “I can do some research for you Alpha.”

Derek gave him a small smile as he deftly maneuvered the vehicle up the road. “Thank you Puppy.” He frowned again. “So…instead of trying to remember Mom I could instead remember how Dad did things and that would be okay?” He flited unsure eyes to the rearview mirror to meet Peter’s.

Peter had a soft look on his face as he looked back into Derek’s eyes. “Yes Puppy. Your dad may have been Alpha mate but when Talia was away or busy he shouldered the alpha duties. You’re a lot more like him than your mom. Frank was a great Alpha…and I have no doubt you’re gonna be one too.”

Pulling up to the house they were treated to the sight of an old multistory house. It was painted blue with white trim and was completely surrounded by tall grass. An untended yellow rose bush was attempting to eat half the porch and the roof was bespeckled by darker, new shingles. There were a number of outbuildings peeking out behind it.

“This place better have a bathroom after that ride.” Lydia complained as she opened her door but waited for Stiles to lift her down rather than risk turning an ankle.

“Should have two. One with a claw foot tub which I totally call dibs on to share with Derek.” Stiles loped up to the front door with the key in hand. They’d stopped by the reality office earlier to get it from Linda. He opened the door wide and wrinkled his nose at the smell of dust that wafted out.

Lydia blew past him leaving heeled footprints in the dust. “Well it’ll need cleaned that’s for sure.”

Stiles nodded in agreement he took in the breezeway. Directly down the hall was the backdoor. The house had several doors leading off the hallway. One to the left led into a kitchen that clearly hadn’t been updated since the 80s. The linoleum was worn thin and broken in places. Stiles stayed in there to look over the appliances while the other continued down the hall. To the right was a smallish parlor and further down the promised study with builtin and completely filled bookshelves around the walls.

Lydia found the bathroom adequate while Peter went upstairs to check out the bedrooms and other bathroom and eventually the attic. Lydia and Stiles both explored the basement where the laundry and water softener were. The wolves avoided the basement for dual reasons.

They reconvened in the parlor where Derek relaxed on the couch and happily accepted Stiles climbing into his lap and licking at his chin and neck. He pulled the slighter boy close and cupped his jaw and he rubbed their noses together before starting to kiss Stiles’ soft mouth.

Lydia pursed her mouth as Peter leaned in the doorway and watched the boys with an indulgent smirk. She wrinkled her nose at the decor. “Well it needs thoroughly cleaned and definitely redorated but it’ll do.” She crossed one arm and rested her elbow on the other as she taped her finger to her chin. “What happened to the last owner?”

Peter shrugged. “Getting any banshee vibes?”

Lydia waved her hand back and forth indicating maybe. “Stiles. What happened to the last owner? Stiles!”

Stiles pulled back from Derek reluctantly looking like he left half his brain cells. As Derek only continued to lick his neck Stiles was not becoming any more coherent. His eyes were a soft, steady, golden glow as he licked his lips to reply. “Mr.Carson. Uh...liver cancer?” Stiles buried his face in Derek’s hair and took a deep breath as Derek lapped at his collarbones.

Peter chuckled. “Alpha bliss. You’re not gonna get much out of him for a while.”

Lydia turned to see Peter’s eyes were glowing a steady blue though slightly less intense. “Are you affected too? Even though you’re not over there?”

Peter nodded. “It’s the pack bond. It’s a good thing. Strengthens the bonds.”

“I can’t say Jax is gonna be unhappy about that. Now if you’re not gonna melt in a goo follow me. We’re gonna make notes on fixing this place.”

“After you.” Peter gave Derek and Stiles a final smile before following Lydia as she began to talk about color swatches.


	29. Alternate Ride

Boyd wasn’t quite sure he liked the series of events that lead to him sitting in the passenger seat of Jackson Whittmore’s Porsche on his way to see another alpha werewolf and thereby taking him further and further away from all he knew.

It had been discussed and agreed upon at the meeting with Alpha Ito that the five omegas would make the trip piled together in Scott’s mom’s car. Boyd had his doubts about the plan from the first. At the time it stemmed more from the disbelief his bulk was going to be able to squeeze into the back seat of any mid-sized sedan.

However when it came time to go Scott texted saying his mom was driving him and Isaac. Leaving Boyd, Erica, and Jackson to make their own way. Not a problem for Jackson who had his own vehicle. Erica threw a fit however until Boyd calmly called Jackson.

“Who is this?”

“Boyd. You got the message about Scott bailing on us?”

“McCall’s latest jackassery at work? Yeah I got the memo. I wasn’t gonna ride with him anyway.”

“Excellent. Then you don’t mind picking Erica and me up.”

“What the fuck? No.” Jackson sounded incredulous.

“Pack 101. Pack mates support one another. One way or another we’re going to be pack mates. So you might as well fall in line.”

Jackson said nothing but Boyd had observed him enough throughout the school years to know he was quietly seething.

“I would have thought this whole pack mentality would have come easily to you. Haven’t you been in team sports your whole life?” Boyd hadn’t had a problem with the pack mentality. He’d been in Airforce ROTC. The military didn’t differ too much from the way Derek had run their pack. Though the alpha had seemed a little creepy with the way he kept wanting to touch them. He claimed it would facilitate pack bonding. All of the betas had their doubts though. Maybe that would be a question Alpha Ito could answer.

Boyd missed the surly alpha. Derek and him had a lot in common. They were both quiet and stoic. They’d both lost loved ones early in life that had left them scarred. They both craved human contact but didn’t know how to get it. He’d begun to believe he could have a real friendship with the alpha based on mutual respect and a common past. But then there was Erica.

Boyd had followed Erica’s lead in leaving the pack. He’d admired the girl for years. Watching her pin for Stiles who pined for Lydia who loved Jackson. Being in a pack with her. Seeing her be healthy. At first it was like a dream come true. Now he wasn’t so sure it was the right call. Cutting the bond to Derek hurt worse than anything he’d ever felt before. Even now there was an ache in the center of his chest. Like someone had carved out an arc reactor sized divot in his chest and despite his new healing it just kept bleeding.

“Teammates…”

Boyd started. He’d forgotten Jackson was still on the phone.

“Yeah I think I can wrap my mind around that a bit better. Okay. Shoot me your and Erica’s addresses. I’ll pick you up.”

Boyd nodded. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Jackson hung up.

Boyd called Erica. They weren’t as close as he’d hoped. Her and Isaac seemed to pair up a lot more in some kind of quasi-sibling fashion. At least he hoped it was a sibling relationship. He sighed as she picked up.

“My sister won’t loan me her car. Seriously I don’t HAVE seizures anymore. I’m safe to drive. I know I don’t ACTUALLY have my license but I can totally still drive.” She growled and he could just see her throwing a hand up in the air in frustration.

“Jackson’s going to pick us up.”

“Oh. Woohoo. I’ve never ridden in a Porsche. Shotgun!”

Boyd smiled even though she couldn’t see it. “You really think I’m gonna fit in the backseat of that little car?”

Erica sighed gustily. “Yeah point. What do you think I should wear?”

“You’re not dressed yet?”

“Well I was until McCall bailed on us.”

“We don’t know what she’ll have us doing? I’d dress casually.”

“Yeah but I want to make a good impression.”

He could hear the clack of hangers and the soft rustle of clothing. He appreciated it but wasn’t sure he really liked her new fashion sense. He wasn’t dumb enough to bring it up though. Erica was clearly enjoying her new lease on life. He wasn’t about to tell her he thought the new tight revealing clothes looked a little trashy. He’d watched enough TV and movies to know you did not tell a woman what to wear. Rightly so too. Her body and clearly she was feeling pretty damn good about herself and what she was wearing. As long as she was happy he didn’t think it was any of his business.“Can’t help you.”

He heard the soft purr of Jackson’s Porsche coming down the road. He had the best hearing of the three betas. Erica had the better nose. Better than even Derek in fact. The alpha had said it was because she was a woman. That women typically had more refined senses. Erica had preened for three days after that. Right up until Derek had finally shut down her sexual advances permanently and harshly. As grateful as Boyd was that Derek didn’t appear to have any interest in the beautiful blonde she’d been beyond pissed for a solid week after that. “Jackson’s here.”

“K. See you soon.” The sweet sound of her pursed lips blowing him a kiss over the phone came just before the dial tone.

Boyd sighed and grabbed his black leather jacket. He shrugged it over the thin blue t-shirt and took a final glance at his new black sneakers and dark blue jeans. He patted his pocket making sure his wallet, phone and house keys were accounted for before heading into the kitchen.

His grandma sat at the kitchen counter clipping coupons from the Sunday paper. “Are you going out Vernon?”

“Yeah Grandma. I should be back by tonight.”

“Okay Dear. You be careful now.” She held out an arm and he very gently stepped into her embrace and dropped a kiss on a soft wrinkled cheek. She felt so fragile in his arms. He’d strove to find control of his strength as quickly as possible. He couldn’t imagine ever hurting this woman even accidently.

“Bye Grandma. Call me if you need anything.”

“I will dear. Have fun.”

As Boyd left the house meeting Jackson just as the Porsche smoothly came to a stop in front of the house. He was focused on dealing with the arrogant king of the school and completely missed his Grandma’s final words. “I do hope Satomi can talk some sense into you kids.”


End file.
